Golden Protector
by Kittylin15
Summary: After his trial Malfoy's informed Voldemort promised the werewolf Greyback him in payment. For his own protection at school he's assigned his own auror bodyguard. Because Harry testified at Malfoy's trial he thinks its his duty to make sure he's fine, and friendship spawns from it and maybe more. He has a bad feeling about the auror who was assigned. -8th year- animagus forms
1. The Trial

This story spawned from a thought I had when I was reading an 8th year Harry Potter story. How come Draco is always just allowed to wonder around the school after he was a death eater? It gave me a thought about him being assigned an auror to follow him around. Every day I take the subway to school and I day dream to pass the time. So while trapped under ground and starring at a window facing a black wall while there was a subway delay so we were stopped in the tunnel , I had a ten minute thought that turned into this story.

I actually thought of this during January but was too busy at school to even contemplate writing it down. At one point I thought I would never share this with the world because of my other stories but I got writers block and hoped that just starting it would get me going again.

I had a couple ideas and I mixed them into one story because I knew I'd never finish them otherwise.

Once I started I couldn't stop. I've put all my other stories on hold for this. When I'm not working with my dad, I spend my time writing this. I have managed to write over 100 pages already, over 40,000 words. The story is also only in point form later on and I still have to write in between scenes. I'll have no problem making regular posts.

I wrote this beginning part in only an hour but it gets a lot better later on. I'll post again in the next couple days.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_The Trial_

…

Since the war had ended last month it felt like all he'd seen was the inside of a courtroom. After the tenth trial with his presence at every single one of them, people had just started to except that he would be there though he rarely spoke out. Because he was the boy who lived he felt it was his duty to see the evildoers behind bars and the actual innocents set free. That's why he was here.

Sitting in the stands; waiting for his turn to testify at Draco Malfoy's trial.

Fingering the wand in his pocket, he thought about how he owed this at least to Malfoy since without his wand he surely would've died. They both owed each other life depts. and they couldn't repay those if Malfoy was in prison.

He'd told his friends that this trial was tomorrow since he knew that they would insist to come with him but he felt he needed to do this alone.

He sat in the back aisle like usual. From his position he could see everyone coming and going. In the front row he could see Narcissa Malfoy arriving for her son's trial. He'd testified at her trial, which had been only a week after the war ended and managed to get her on house arrest.

The judge finally arrived, everyone stood in respect. Harry felt like he was just going through the motions since he'd done this so many times. The judge sat down and everyone followed his example.

"We are here today for the trial of Draco Lucius Malfoy, who is accused of being a death eater, planning to kill Albus Dumbledore, torturing, making dark potions, performing dark magic..." The judge read off a large file.

The list went on further. Harry knew it sounded bad but he knew why everything on that list happened and it wasn't at Malfoy's own free will. Hopefully his testifying would be enough.

"Bring the accused in." The judge commanded some nearby aurors. They went to a door near the side of the room and went through it. When they came back out they had the Sytherine held between them like he needed their support to continue to stand. They dragged him over to the chair in the middle and locked his chains to the arms of the chair.

He couldn't believe that they'd put Malfoy in chains like he was a dangerous criminal. The other boy looked awful like he'd been in Azkaban for years instead of in just a ministry holding cell for a month. At least he thought the blond had been held in the ministry and not shipped off to Azkaban. The thought off the boy held in the wizarding prison horrified him.

Malfoy was wearing the classic black and white jumpsuit; like the one he'd seen Serius wearing. He looked like he hadn't gotten a proper bath in a while or a proper meal. He'd always been slender but now he looked almost skeletal. In his shock at his school rivals appearance he'd missed the beginning of the trial.

It seemed the Wizengamot was much divided over this trial. Some claimed because of his age he couldn't be held accountable for his actions. Others felt his deeds were too dark to be forgiven and he should spend the rest of his life in prison.

Malfoy hadn't spoken a word through the whole thing like he had accepted his fate already.

The judge was just about to start the vote when Harry realized he hadn't gotten a chance to speak yet.

"Wait!" Harry yelled, making his presence known to Malfoy. He could see the blonde's shoulders tense. "I would like to testify for the accused." Many whispers started as he made his way forward.

The judge for the day raised his eyebrow. "Usually you have to register to testify but because of who you are we'll make an exception." He said once the boy who lived had made it in front of him. "Harry James Potter, to testify for the defense of the accused, Draco Lucius Malfoy." The judge announced.

Harry took the seat in the defense box. He had a clear view of Malfoy's face from here and it looked shocked. He didn't wait for the arguer the ministry had hired to start asking questions since he knew the Malfoy's vaults had been frozen until further notice so they didn't have the money to hire their own. The arguer would try to steer him whichever way the ministry wanted this trial to go.

"Draco Malfoy has been threatened and black mailed through this whole war. Voldemort..." Harry saw everyone flinch at the name but he just rolled his eyes before continuing on. "He was displeased with Draco's father. Voldemort threatened to kill his mother, father, and then him; if he did not kill Dumbledore." He stopped to take a breath.

"Is his true Mrs. Malfoy?" The judge turned to ask the accused.

"Well yes, and…" Malfoy sputtered at being addressed suddenly.

"That's enough." The judge stopped him from adding on. "We just need you to confirm what the witness is saying. Continue Mr. Potter." He gestured for him to speak.

"He assigned this mission knowing that Malfoy would fail. He never expected Malfoy to be successful. Dumbledore knew of his mission to kill him the whole time but what no one knew is that Dumbledore was dying from a curse already. His death was inventible so he made Severus Snape make an un-breakable bond to promise to kill him when Malfoy failed." Harry stopped to observe the crowd. He could hear Skeeter's quill scratching over her parchment along with many others. Harry had never revealed any of this information to the public before.

"So that he could save Draco's innocence. He cared enough about Malfoy to do this for him. I watched Draco very closely that whole time at school. I kept saying I knew he was up to something. You could say I was stalking him. I could see that whatever he was doing was tearing him up inside. When he was finally back at his home, Malfoy Manner; that Voldemort had taken over and turned into his base. He was kept a prisoner in his own home. Only called on for meetings and sessions where Voldemort forced him to torture fellow death eaters. Not innocent people like it probable say in your notes. I know this because I saw it through my connection to Voldemort's mind first hand. I could feel how much he enjoyed the terror he put into the boy. Draco Malfoy only performed all those things on that list with Voldemort's wand at his back." Harry spoke directly to the wizengamot. He nodded to show that he was finished and started returning to his spot near the back. Mrs. Malfoy nodded to him in thanks as he passed by.

The judge cleared his throat before speaking. "Thank you Mr. Potter. We are now ready to vote. All in favor of sending Draco Lucius Malfoy to Azkaban raise your hand." Only a couple sparse hands raised but when they saw that no one else did near them, so they put it back down as if to change their vote. "Those in favor of setting young Mr. Malfoy free." All the hands raised now.

"We can't just set you free boy. There is an issue that must be settled first." The judge addressed Malfoy directly while shifting through a file.

Harry stopped half way up the stairs and turned around demanding. "Why not!?"

"Quiet, Mr. Potter. I will not have you disturbing my court again. There is a safety issue. Not Mr. Malfoy in-dangering others, but his own life is in danger if he is not protected. It was revealed in an interrogation of another death eater that..." The judge pauses before speaking. "Voldemort promised the werewolf Greyback the young Malfoy heir in payment for his loyalty once he'd won the battle. We have been informed that Greyback still plans on having his payment."

Draco could feel a panic attack coming. He knew that the werewolf had always been watching him but to want him as payment. What did he want him for? Horrible things were jumping through his mind. He jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Shooting his eyes behind him he relaxed when he saw it was just Potter who'd made his way from his previous position.

"Has there been any word on Greyback's location?" Harry asked.

During the Battle at Hogwarts Ron and Neville thought they took the werewolf out for good but once the dust from the battle had settle no one could find his body. Either he got up and escaped while everyone was distracted who some one had helped him. It was hard to take out a werewolf because of their in human strength, they shouldn't have thought it would be that easy to get ride of him. Just a week or so after his master's death people started reporting sightings of the werewolf all over. Originally the ministry claimed that they were just being paranoid but when Greyback bit a child and turned him, they could no longer deny that the werewolf was still on the lose. They had a full man hunt that matched the scale they went to when Serius Black escaped from Azkaban.

"No there has not. He is still on the run. We are afraid that if he hears of Mr. Malfoy's release he will come to collect him." Judge explained.

"Do you have a plan." Harry asked.

"We have talked to the aurors about the issue if Mr. Malfoy was to be released and have made a plan of action. He will be released into his Mothers custody and will join her in house arrest." He spoke more towards the accused for that. "There is constant auror presence there as they catalog all the dark items so he will be safe. Since Mr. Malfoy is under age it is a condition that he must finish school. That is where it gets tricky."

"Why? Hogwarts is completely safe." Harry asked. They spent months fixing the schools defenses and it was a s strong as ever.

"It's more about the parents worry for their children. If he was to get inside the school and hurt one of the students while looking for Mr. Malfoy." The judge explained. "We have decided to assign him his own auror bodyguard who will follow him everywhere until the capture of the werewolf. To assure the other students safeties as well as his own against Greyback and others who wish to harm him. Headmistress McGonagall has agreed to this kindly." He gestured towards the crowd.

Harry followed the judge's eyes to the head of Gryffindors location in the crowd. He hadn't seen the women arrive. It made sense that she would be present at a student's trial.

McGonagall stood up in the middle row. "Yes, I have. As long as Mr. Malfoy behaves himself and keeps up his grades I see no point in keeping him from finishing his education and getting a good job." She nodded in the blonde's direction.

"Do you agree to these terms? If you do not you will be placed in Azkaban." The judge addressed the Malfoy heir directly.

Harry watched as Malfoy's face paled a little further if that was possible.

"Yes, I do." Draco agreed readily. After spending a couple weeks in Azkaban he was ready to never see the place again.

The judge smiled. "Case dismissed then. Your house arrest starts immediately."

Draco sighed in relief as the aurors unlocked his handcuffs. He rubbed his wrists to get the feeling back into them. He stood on his shaky legs. As soon as he spotted his mother making her way through the crowd to him he met her half way. She enveloped him in a tight hug and kissed his cheek. Usually he'd be embarrassed by this but right now he didn't care what anyone thought. His mother and he were safe. He hugged back.

"Aw, Malfoy." Came a nervous voice behind him and turned around to face Potter.

"Yes." The boy blanched when they both responded at once since he only used his last name.

"Draco?" It felt weird saying Malfoy's first name but he guessed that he'd have to when in the presence of his mother.

Putting a restraining hand on her son, Mrs. Malfoy approached him. "Thank you Harry Potter for everything you've done for me and my son." Mrs. Malfoy smiled at him from her place behind her son. She poked said son in the back as if to remind him of his manners.

"Ow, right." Draco grumbled. "Thank you for testifying for me. I don't know how that vote would've gone if it wasn't for you."

"I owe you two. If it weren't for your actions I wouldn't standing here now." Harry starred in Malfoy's eyes and then turning to smile at Mrs. Malfoy. "Both of you."

"That reminds me. I just wanted to give this back to you." Harry reached into his robe and pulled out something.

Draco looked down and was surprised to see his wand. He reached out cautiously and took it. He smiled when he felt the familiar tingle of magic at the tips of his fingers but then it was snatched away from him.

The man in the auror robes placed the wand in his pocket.

"Hey." Potter yelled indignantly for him so he didn't say anything.

"Your wand will be kept for safe keeping by the ministry until you return to school, and then it will be entrusted to the auror assigned to you for classes. If you behave while at school you will be allowed to have full use of you wand back eventually. Until then your spells will be monitored." The auror who had snatched it informed Draco before marching off with it.

Draco sighed. He guessed that he'd just have to get used to that. It'll be like that for the next year or so. "Thanks anyway Potter. I guess I'll see you at school."

"Yeah, see you." Potter said with a familiar angry look on his face but it wasn't directed at him for once but at the aurors back.

"Can we make a truce?" Draco asked and held out his hand. "I could use a strong ally at school."

Potter blinked at him in surprise. "Sure." Harry took his hand in a strong grip. It felt like he'd been waiting for this moment for years. "Remember, we aren't at war anymore."

"Maybe you aren't." Draco said cryptically as he let his mother lead him away.

Harry watched them leave. They had a full auror escort back to their manor.

**…TBC**


	2. Grimmauld

This chapter was written just to show where everyone was at during the summer months. It started off very short but before I posted it I decided to enter more of the character and it got a lot longer.

Only after I started writing this did I realize how many really good characters had died in the 7th book. I kept thinking I could use a character beore realizing they're dead. I decided to bring back my second favorite character. Don't question his non deadness.

This story starts getting good next chapter which will be up soon. It's when they take the hogwarts express back to school.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Grimmauld_

**…**

Hermione removed the kettle from the stove in the kitchen in 12 Grimmauld place. She poured the hot water into one of the china cups that held a tea bag of earl grey. No one else was up yet but it was still early.

She and Ron had been helping Harry remodel the old house over the summer. If all the protections put into it and it being fully paid for Harry saw no reasons to buy a new house. This one would just have to do no matter how decrepit it was.

Others were also still staying here. Even though the Order was no longer needed they still felt joined together. With all the members they lost during the war they needed the support to get through there loses.

Pulling out a rickety chair and sitting down at the table. She unrolled the Daily Prophet that Kreacher had left there, knowing she liked to read it while drinking her morning tea. Her eyes widened at the headline and giant picture spread across the front page.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled in anger. She quickly got up out of her chair and ran to the bottom of the stairs. "Harry!" She yelled up them.

"Filth, Mud blood, scrums of the earth..." Mrs. Black's portrait started to yell.

"Put a cork in it." Hermione said as she cast a spell she discovered that would actually render paintings unable to speak.

"What?" Harry asked tiredly as he reached the landing. He had laid a wake last night playing the trial over in his mind, not managing to fall asleep till early in the morning. His plan of sleeping in was disturbed by his friends yelling.

"Did you testify yesterday at Malfoy's trial?" Hermione questioned. He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Did you?"

"Yes." Harry answered sheepishly while playing with the banister so he didn't have to look at her.

"I told you I wanted to go with you. Why'd you lie to me?" Hermione questioned with her hands on her hips indignantly.

"I had to do this on my own. Why'd you want to go so badly anyway?" Harry asked as he descended the stairs.

"For support." Hermione answered with much less anger.

"Have you even read the article yet?" Harry asked as he walked past her on the way to the kitchen.

"No, but I didn't need to when there's a giant picture of you and Malfoy shaking hands on the front page." Hermione said as she shook the paper indignantly at him as she followed him into the kitchen. She retook her seat by her cup of tea. "So how'd it go?" She blew to cool down the hot liquid.

"Why don't you just read the article?" Harry suggested tiredly as he poured a cup of tea himself. His choice was orange picot. It was too early in the morning to have to tell stories.

"You know that paper only ever tells half-truths. I want the truth and nothing but the truth." Hermione demanded with a pointed look that she wouldn't leave him alone till he did.

"Fine." Harry sighed tiredly. "I testified, saying how Malfoy only did all that stuff with Voldemort's wand at his back which managed to change the wizengot minds enough to get him set free. It didn't look it that was going to happen before I spoke up for him." He said. Talking about it made him think about the conclusion to yesterday's trial.

"That's great isn't it, why do you look so troubled?" Hermione asked with a furrowed brow. She leaned on the table to better be able to see his face.

"Well, once it was voted that Malfoy wouldn't be going to prison they revealed some information from interviewing some of the other death eaters. Apparently Voldemort promised Greyback that he could have Malfoy as payback, and he still wants him now even though they lost. You know how they haven't caught him yet."

"Why?" Hermione had a surprised look when she spoke. "What could the werewolf possibly want with him?"

"No one really knows but Greyback himself, but the ministry has put Malfoy under house arrest for the time being, the manors swarming with aurors so he'll be safe. Greyback would have to be a total idiot to attack him there." Harry explained. "You know how Malfoy's still considered a minor even though he turned 18 last week. They have the rule that..." He was interrupted.

"All minors must finish school." Hermione said like she was reading the rule from a book. "So Malfoy has to return to Hogwarts in September." She said understandingly.

"Yes that. He's in too much danger with Greyback after him to just be able to wonder around by himself right now. The aurors are nowhere close in catching the werewolf, so the ministry decided to assign Malfoy an auror while at school."

"His own personal auror, I'm sure Malfoy's pleased about that." Hermione said jokingly.

"I'm just imagining him being trailed around by some, crazed close to retiring auror like Mad Eye Moody." Harry said with a laugh. He took a sip of his tea.

"Are you glad you did it?" Hermione asked once they calmed down from laughing.

"Don't regret it on bit." Harry answered with confidence in his voice. "You know Malfoy asked for a truce after the trial." He told with a smile on his face at the thought as he looked into his tea.

"Really?" Hermione said with surprise. Harry just nodded. "Wow." She thought about how much that contradicted with what she remembered Malfoy being like. She hoped the war had changed him for the better.

"Harry!" Could be heard being yelled from up stair's. They both looked at the ceiling in surprise.

"Crap, I'm sure Ron just received his copy of the daily prophet." Harry exclaimed with a hand over his eyes.

Hermione sighed as she pushed her chair out. "Drink your tea. I'll go talk to him for you." She ruffled her hand through his hair in friendly affection as she left the kitchen.

Harry sat in silence just staring at his tea thinking.

"So you got Draco off." Came a deep drawling voice from beside him.

Harry was so surprised he almost split his tea all over himself. "Don't sneak up on me like that." He snapped at the man leaning over the paper. He eyed Snape as he read over the article.

When he'd seen Nagina attack the man and his eyes close after he'd given him his memories, he thought for sure the man had been a goner. When he'd heard after the battle that Snape had been found a little worse for wear but alive he'd been dumbfounded. When you hear the man tell it, logically he always took anti-venom and others with his morning tea, just in case someone tried to poison him. Harry thought that it was just extremely paranoid.

"God every time, I think I'm seeing a ghost when you walk into a room." Harry said as he looked over the man's appearance. Snape was still recovering from being poisoned from the snakebite. Just because he'd managed to live didn't mean he'd walked away unscathed. It would be awhile before he was back to his usual healthy scowling self. That's the reason why he was living at Grimmauld place right now. His symptoms were like he had the stomach flu and bronchitis mixed together. He was here so that Mrs. Weasley could Molly-coddle him.

"You can't get rid of me that easily." Snape drawled sliding the paper closer to himself. His brow furrowed as he read over the information. Pausing to cough, it had a slight wet sound to it. "I can't wait until I can get out of here and back to my own place." He exclaimed.

"Do you think you'll be better enough to teach at Hogwarts again? Harry asked curiously. McGonagall had hinted that she wanted the man back teaching potions.

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away. I'm sure that oaf Slughorn has let the students get away with murder. I'll need to whip them back into shape." Snape replied adamantly.

Harry sipped his tea trying to look innocent, not wanting to remind the man that Slughorn thought him his best student when he'd really been cheating the whole time thanks to his old potions textbook. Slughorn really had let them get away with anything.

McGonagall flooed in using the kitchen fireplace, brushing off the soot.

"Hi." Harry greeted the witch in surprise.

"Headmistress." Snape nodded to his fellow teacher in greeting.

"I haven't gotten used to being called that." McGonagall exclaimed. "Does it get any less weird?" She asked the man.

"I never got used to it and I was headmaster for almost a whole year." Snape replied.

"I always forget that you were the head master for a time." Harry exclaimed. "Since I wasn't at school last year it just isn't something I associate with you." Whenever he pictured a headmaster of Hogwarts he always imagined an old man with a long white beard because of Dumbledor. He had to try not to laugh out loud when the image of Snape sporting a beard.

"I'll always just be the potion teach slash death eater slash spy in your mind." Snape drawled as he leaned back in his chair.

What are you doing here?" Harry asked the witch.

"I'm actually here to talk to you about the trail." McGonagall looked at him over her spectacles as she sat down at the table.

"I guess you saw me there." Harry said sheepishly.

"I would have to be blind and deaf to have missed you. You practically hijacked the trail." McGonagall exclaimed.

"I couldn't just let Malfoy go to prison. They were crucifying him in there." Harry exclaimed adamantly thinking that his head of house didn't approve of his actions.

"If you hadn't stood up right then I would've. I'm proud of you for doing the right thing." McGonagall patted him on his knee.

The kitchen door swung opened as Hermione re-entered alone. "Professor McGonagall, when did you get here?" She asked surprised.

"Not too long ago Miss. Granger." The head mistress replied.

"How'd it go with Ron?" Harry asked.

"He's being stubborn." She sighed in frustration at her boyfriend's hotheadedness. "How are the repairs going at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked the head Mistress to change the subject.

Originally Harry had tried to help repair the damage that the battle had caused to the school but he'd gathered too much attention. His presence was doing more harm than good because people were following him around instead of doing their jobs. The hero worship was stronger than ever and showed no sign of stopping any time soon.

"We've finally finished the great hall and fixed the magical ceiling. We're branching out now to different parts of the castle." McGonagall informed them.

"That's good." Harry smiled at the information.

"I'm sure the ministry has stuck its big nose into the repairs." Snape exclaimed like it was a fact.

"Of course, I assigned a group of ministry wizards to help work on the wards to appease them." McGonagall shared.

"The hardest thing to fix I think is going to be the room of requirement?" Harry shared his opinion.

"I'm not sure if it'll ever be the same again." McGonagall sighed.

"Why can't it be fixed like everything else?" Harry asked. He'd made many good memories in that exact room. Dumbledor's Army wouldn't have been possible without it.

"No one ever really understood how the room actually worked. To just be able to imagine what you want and it'd be provided is very strong magic. It was created by the founders and kept secret from common knowledge. Nothing has ever been found written about the spells they originally used either." McGonagall explained.

Harry turned to Hermione. "Have you ever come across anything in the library?"

"Sorry no. It was never even mentioned in Hogwarts a History until recently when you made it known to everyone. The room of requirement was created over a thousand years ago. I'm sure even if it was written down it would've been lost by now." Hermione added in.

George walked into the Kitchen. "Hey how are you doing?" Harry asked offering a seat for the red head to sit in. George just shrugged and poured himself a cup of tea. He hadn't been very talkative since the death of his twin which was understandable. He was sure he would say something if they were alone.

The kitchen door swung open admitting another house occupant.

"There you are!" Molly screeched indignantly as she strutted further into the room. Snape tensed when he heard the women's voice. "You are supposed to be on strict bed rest. What do you think you are doing in the kitchen?" She reprimanded the potion master like he was one of her own sons. "Get back to bed and I'll bring you your breakfast." She pointed towards the door and starred the man down until he complied.

Snape grumbled unhappily about meddlesome women as he got out of his chair and stomped out of the kitchen. Molly truly was scary when she was in a bad mood. She'd mad quite the reputation for herself, especially after she'd killed Bellatrix Lestrange. McGonagall was struggling to hold back giggles and he even saw George crack a smile at the potion master being reprimanded by his own mother.

"Harry my boy, what could I make for you?" Molly asked him, back to her sweet self.

Snape stuck his head back through the door. "Make me an English muffin and earl grey tea."

"Get back to bed!" She snapped at the man. Snape humped as he turned around to make his way upstairs. She turned back around to smile at him.

"Just the usual." Harry replied. He knew no matter what he asked for she'd fill his plate to the brim even if he claimed he wasn't hungry.

Mrs. Weasley started to crack eggs into a large bowl and heat up a pan for bacon. Soon the house was filled with the smell of cooking food. He could hear people upstairs getting up and the creaking of the stairs as they descended. Fleur and Charlie appeared first with Mr. Weasley entering not long after; he walked over and kissed his wife's cheek before taking a seat.

Ron finally showed up once the food started to cook even though Harry knew he'd been up much longer; he could never resist the smell of bacon. The red head showed up still in his pajamas while his sister entered right behind him completely put together. Ginny sat down close beside Harry and he shuffled away from her.

Molly started to serve the table what she'd made already. On the way around she kissed George on the head. She'd become extremely protective of her children since the loss of the one.

"Minerva will you be staying for breakfast?" Molly asked the other woman. As she decided how much food she was still going to have to make.

"No. I best be getting back to Hogwarts. There are still lots of work to do. Just came to talk to Mr. Potter about a bout his testimony at the trail yesterday." McGonagall said as she stood to make her way back to the mantle.

"Which trial is that?" Molly asked curiously as she flipped an egg.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. She snatched the paper off the table, quickly scanning the head line. "You testified at Malfoy's trial yesterday?!" She exclaimed surprised with pursed lips.

"Yeah he did, got him off too." Ron said disgruntled as he played with his scrambled eggs.

"I thought you hated him?" Molly asked. She'd only ever heard complaints about the boy from him and her children.

"I used to but after the war our rivalry just seemed petty. It's time to put our past behind us." Harry shrugged as he explained why he did it.

Mrs. Weasley glanced at the picture in the prophet. "The boy's only skin and bones, not an ounce of fat on him. I have half a mind to go over to that manor and fatten him up." She exclaimed. Harry smiled when he imagined Malfoy's reaction if that did happen. Molly Weasley was a force to be reckoned with when she thought a child was malnourished.

"I best bring Severus his food." Molly exclaimed as she picked up a large plate that was definitely not what the potion master had ordered. 'Oh well, at least she got the tea right.' Harry thought to himself.

The topic of conversation around the table slowly changed from Malfoy's trial to other topics.

It was hectic around here but Harry wouldn't have it any other way.

...TBC


	3. Departure

I would have had this up sooner but my best friend was staying at my house all week.

This is when I really started to get into writing this story. It wasn't supposed to be so intense as it turned out.

I added more to the beginning and the end last minute and I'm not sure if I like it. Tell me what you think of it?

+Just realized that I mislabeled the title. I only did that because it's the title of the next chapter and it's already to go.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Departure  
_

…

_2 Months later…_

That morning of September first Grimmauld place had been bustling with activity as all the young occupants got ready to go back to school. After the usual breakfast everyone tried to pack up their last minute things.

Harry was the first to make it to the entrance hall. He set his trunk down and sat on it to wait for everyone else. He had been so excited to go back to Hogwarts that he'd ended up packing everything the night before, even his tooth brush. Upstairs he could hear Ginny yelling if anyone had seen her broom and then shouting never mind.

Snape walked into the entrance hall. Over the last two months He'd made a full recovery. Molly had even brought the man to St. Mongo's to make sure and he'd been given the ok to go back to work again. McGonagall was very pleased to have the potion master back and rid of Slughorn.

"Are you going to be taking the train with us?" Harry asked the potion master.

The man scoffed. "Of course not. There are much better ways to travel with a lot less children." Snape stalked through the front door and a loud crack could be heard.

Harry rolled his eyes. Yep, the man was back to his old self again. He knew the potion master had to be there early to prepare.

Ron dragged his trunk to the top of the landing and then pulled it down behind him, it made a loud thump each time it hit a step. Harry winced at the noise it made and thought it couldn't be good for the stairs, thinking about his house. The red head panted when he reached the bottom. "There has to be a better way to do that." He panted.

Hermione rolled her eyes when she saw him from the top of the stairs. She floated her own trunk in front of her down the steps. "There is, it's called magic." She lowered her trunk to the ground and hardly made a noise.

"Crap, I'm so used to having to do everything by hand during the summer that I forgot we're allowed to use our wands now." Ron slapped his forehead. "It's too early in the morning for this."

Harry looked at his watch. "Ron, it's 10 in the morning."

"It's early in my opinion." Ron shrugged. Hermione rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's immaturity.

A lot of the other members of the order came down to say goodbye to their youngest members, Ginny was the last to arrive out of everyone.

"Did you all pack enough under wear?" Mrs. Weasley asked her children.

Ginny blushed and shot Harry a look out of the corner of her eye. "Yes." She snapped at her mother.

Mrs. Weasley kissed each of her children on the cheek as they gathered near the door, kissing Harry twice so he wouldn't feel left out.

George winced when she smacked him on the cheek with her lips. "Mom, I'm not even leaving." He exclaimed and his mother just looked at him affectionately.

"Yuck" Ron said as he wiped his cheek. "I'm not a child anymore."

"You all will be children in my eyes." Mrs. Weasley said proudly. "Have fun at school and write me at least every two weeks." They all grumbled in agreement.

Since they were all of age they decided to apparate to the train station. Ginny insisted to side along with Harry even though he knew that she'd learned how to do it. He reluctantly agreed because he didn't want to be late. Harry opened the door and moved to stand on the landing; since it was invisible to muggles it was safe to apparate from there without being noticed.

They made a loud crack when they arrived in an ally down the street. One by one the others arrived with their things.

Harry pried his arm away from the red headed female and made his way towards the exit of the ally. He checked around the corner to see if anyone was looking. It would look pretty weird if a bunch of teenagers with luggage came out of a dead end ally. He signaled the coast was clear and they walked the short block to the Kings Cross station.

When they entered through the large entrance doors they received many strange looks from muggles because of their use of trunks instead of luggage. They quickly made their way through the crowds to the entrance that led to the Hogwarts express.

Harry received nods of acknowledgement from plain clothed ministry of magic employees who were there to make sure everything went smoothly. They must have recognized him. He would have been able to point them out even if they hadn't given their position away to him because they had some mistakes in their muggle fashion sense; like a man wearing a women's blouse.

They stopped when they reached the barrier between the two muggle train platforms. Ginny went first; disappearing through the apparently solid wall. Harry let his friends go first and he went last, taking a running start.

The platform 9 ¾ was bustling with students and parents alike.

Ginny had already run off to find her own friends.

They made their way through the crowd. It wasn't just him getting attention now. When people's heads turned to follow the golden trio they weren't just concentrated on Harry for once. He wasn't alone in his fame now. When he told the story of how he gathered the Horcruxes last year he made sure to play up his friends help. Now they were considered hero's just as much as he was.

He looked around at all the familiar and unfamiliar faces. Most looked right back with looks of admiration. In his peripheral he caught the sight of two heads of blond hair. His full attention was caught and he started to make his way over.

"Harry, where you going?" Ron called after him until he saw what had caught his attention. Brushing Hermione's arm to gain her attention. He started to grumble as he followed after his friend.

.

Draco had been escorted along with his mother from the manor by one of the aurors who had been cataloging, Auror Turner. He guessed the ministry thought it would be more convenient and he'd gotten to know them pretty well over the summer. They were to meet his own personal auror on the other side of the barrier.

Draco shuffled his feet anxiously as he waited. A lot of people were staring at him. He played with his now un-gelled hair to cover his eyes. He knew it was going to be hard to come back but the starring and the whispering were excruciating. His mother had her hand on his shoulder for moral support, which only helped a little.

He could hear the whispering picking up. 'What? He didn't do anything.' He looked up to see the crowd parting and Potter emerging with his friends not far behind.

"Oh, here he is." Exclaimed the auror beside me. For a second I thought he was talking about Potter but then he could see a young man not much older than he was in auror robes making his way over. "May I introduce you to Nathanial Garrott?"

Draco eyed the man over. When he was told he was getting his own auror he always pictured someone like Mad Eye Moody, not someone who looked like they could still be going to school themselves. He had dirty blond hair with hazelnut eyes. He was much taller and larger built than Draco was and wasn't unattractive.

"It's nice to meet you." Nathanial held out his hand to Draco. He eyed it for a second before deciding that he might as well take it. He shook the man-boy's hand. 'Didn't want to snub his protector' he thought to himself.

"Who's he?" A sudden voice asked from beside Draco making him jump in surprise and let go of the aurors hand. His heart thumped loudly when he looked up and saw it was just Potter. When did he become so jumpy he thought to himself?

"This Auror Garrott, he's been assigned to Mr. Malfoy for the school term." Turner answered exasperated.

Potter did not look happy about that. He put his hand on his hips. "This is the auror the ministry assigned. He doesn't look older than I am. I demand that you assign an older more experienced auror." Slightly raising his voice at the end.

Draco raised his eyebrow in surprise at Potter's behavior. He'd never seen Potter be so demanding before. Had he finally managed to figure out that he could use his fame to get his way?

"He was assigned because of his age. It's to make the other students feel more comfortable." Turner tried to say with patience but failed miserably.

"That can't be the only reason." Potter said with narrowed eyes. "Malfoy's supposed to have an auror protection against Greyback and I don't feel that he's any match for the werewolf." Potter pointed at the young auror.

"I'm a perfectly capable auror!" Garrott snapped at Potter.

Draco hunched over trying to make himself look smaller. He thought people were starring before but it was nothing compared to now. They were causing a scene. His mother squeezed his shoulder to say it was ok. He'd been on the other side of Potter's temper too many times not to underestimate how quickly he could jump to physical violence.

Turner stepped in front of Garrott to stop the situation from escalating. "Potter, a war has just ended and all other Aurors have more important matters. Garrott has almost completely finished his training and..."

"Excuse me; did you just say he was still an auror in training? He's still a trainee. You mean he has no real field experience?" Potter looked really enraged now. "Did he even fight in the war?"

"Harry!" Granger tried to grab Potter and drag him away before he did anything stupid. "This really isn't any of your business. We should go." She tugged but he didn't budge.

Draco sighed. "Potter, it's ok. I'll be fine." He put a hand on the other boys shoulder to gain his attention. Actually having to reach upward to do it, he realized Potter had finally grown taller than him over the last year. Grey eyes met green.

"The Ministry is just so..." Potter let it trail of with a growl under his breath.

Draco felt someone tug on his arm. He looked over expecting to see his mother but instead it was his auror. He jumped a little in surprise at meeting the boy's brown eyes. "The train's going to leave soon. We need to go." Garrott tapped his watch with the train whistle blowing in the background to further his point.

He felt a strong hand grab onto his wrist. Draco looked over confused to see a tanned hand contrasting with his pale skin. "Potter, I have to go."

"Ok, just remember if you need anything or if anyone's bothering you can come to me." Potter said. Draco was a little confused why he cared so much. He knew they had a truce but this was kind of above and beyond what he expected to come of it.

"That's my job." Garrott gave Potter a pointed glare before tugging me in the direction of the train but Potter was still holding onto my wrist. Draco felt like they were playing tug a war with him. "You need to let go!" The young auror demanded.

"Remember." Potter said directly to me and only let me go once I nodded my head in agreement.

Immediately Draco was dragged towards the train. He tried to put the brakes on but his polished shoes started to slide on the floor. "Wait!" He snapped. The auror let him go. He ran back towards his mother and threw his arms around her. "I'll miss you." he'd come to appreciate his mother so much over the last year, he don't know what he was going to do without her.

His mother hugged him back and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Have fun at school and make sure to write me every week. I want to know what's going on." It reminded him of what she said to him before he got on the train that first year. He felt his eyes water a little bit.

He kissed her on the cheek before running back over to the auror who led me to the Hogwarts express.

.

Harry frowned as he watched the blond be led away by the auror. He clenched his fists. Hermione tugged on his sleeve again as the whistle of the train started to blow to announce final boarding of the train. "Let's go." He stomped over towards the back car where the older kids usually sat. The crowds had thinned out because everyone had already boarded the train, leaving only the parents. Hermione and Ron followed in his steps.

It was surprisingly easy to find an empty compartment; though they had a few instances where they were stopped by younger students for autographs on the way. Noticing the train was a lot emptier than any years before. Many lives had been lost and a lot of people had decided to take a year off to just be with their families.

He put his luggage in the overhead before throwing himself into a seat by the window. His friends sat across from him. They both shared anxious looks waiting for me to start ranting so I did.

"I can't believe the ministry just stuck him with a trainee. For once I thought the ministry was doing the right thing, and they managed to screw it up. Do they even care about his safety at all?" Harry complained.

"Why do you care so much?" Ron asked uncomfortably. His best friend had always had an unhealthy obsession with the blond.

"It's the principle of it." Harry responded. God he felt like Hermione fighting for house elf rights. No one understood how he felt. An image of Malfoy in just a tea towel flashed across his mind making him blush.

"Harry, it's just like it was explained to you, everyone's busy." Hermione tried to calm him down. "I'm sure that if they didn't think he was fit to protect Malfoy they wouldn't have assigned him."

"The ministry's butts on the line too." Ron exclaimed. "If Greyback manages to get into Hogwarts and attack someone and the auror they assigned fails then they'd be in deep shit with the parents."

"What Ron said is true, maybe a little uncouth." Hermione agreed, but shot Ron a look for his language.

"I guess." Harry grumbled to himself as the train started to move.

.

Draco looked out the window as they finally left the London area and reached the countryside.

They found an empty compartment near the very back of the train, taking seats on the opposite sides from each other. They hadn't spoken much yet. He wriggled nervously under the auror's stare. It made him feel uncomfortable.

An uncomfortable silence permeated the train compartment.

"We should get to know each other; we're going to be spending a lot of time together." Garrott suggested.

"I guess so." Draco responded awkwardly. He didn't do well with strangers lately. They made him feel jumpy.

"How old are you actually? You do look my age." Draco asked to break the ice.

"I'm twenty-two. Graduated 4 years ago." Garrott answered. "You'd be about in 3rd year when I graduated." He said with a leer, as he looked his new charge over. The boy was very delicate looking.

Draco shifted in his seat. "I never remembered seeing you around. What house were you in?" He asked curiously.

"Hufflepuff." The auror answered simply.

No wonder he never noticed the guy. No Hufflepuffs had ever been worthy enough for him to notice them except for Cedric Diggory but he'd been a special case.

They continued to ask questions all the way to Hogwarts.

.

Through the frosted class of the door Harry could see little faces pressed up against it trying to peer in. He could feel a headache coming on. Word must have gotten out that this was the compartment he was residing in. Maybe it had been a bad idea to come back for his final year. He had been offered a position in the auror academy but he wasn't sure if that was what he wanted anymore.

Ron frowned when he noticed too. "Fuckin first years." He grumbled.

"Ron! There is no reason to be like that. "Hermione admonished him. "They're just curious."

They could hear someone yell something outside but it was too muffled to understand what had been said and by who. It made the first years run off though. They could see a taller figure appear before the door opened. "Had to chase the buggers off." Neville exclaimed.

"Hey." Harry greeted him with a smile. Glad to see the face of someone he knew didn't like him just for his fame. "Why don't you come in?"

"I think I will but I'm not alone." Neville said before leaning his head back to look further down the hall. "Luna, hurry up."

"I'm coming." A female voice could be heard saying.

"Luna's here." Hermione exclaimed in excitement of seeing her friend again.

When the loony blonde arrived the two sat down very close together on the side Harry was on.

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Ron asked, indicating to their position.

"We're kind of dating." Neville rubbed the back of his neck and blushed in embarrassment.

"Isn't he cute?" Luna exclaimed as she kissed her new boyfriends cheek, making the boy blush. Hermione and Ron smiled at the sight. The red head put his arm around his own girlfriend.

Now Harry felt like the third wheel. He was the only one not in a relationship in the compartment. He knew he'd said after the war ended he'd get back together with Ginny but it just didn't seem right anymore. The spark he'd felt with her was gone.

"How was your summer?" Hermione asked.

"It was great. My gran was so proud of me for my involvement in the war that she took me on a trip to South America." Neville gushed. "There were so many interesting plants."

Harry tried to relax and listen as he was surrounded by his friends.

**…TBC**


	4. Arrival

I decided to post so soon because of the large amount of people that read my story. Since I wrote this story in one big word document I've been breaking the story up into chapters now over the past couple days. I'm up to chapter 9 now and still have a long way to go.

Today I started to clean my room and came across point form notes for my very early Inuyasha stories. I've kind of moved on from the pairing. Since two of the stories I found only have 1 chapter and be all wrapped up so I decided I'm going to finish them.

Also wrap up my other Harry/Draco story Bloody Draco. It was supposed to be a one shot but it became much longer. Just need two to three chapters to finish it.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Arrival_

…

The train pulled into the station just after nightfall. Hagrid called the first years over as the older students made their way over to the carriages.

Whispering could be heard all around because more people than ever before could see the thestrals.

Draco starred at the winged beast. It was his first time ever seeing them only because he didn't take the carriages last year but had floo-ed into Snape's then office. It made him sad to think about how he'd lost part of his innocence. After his experience with the griffin in Hagrid's class it made him nervous around animals of this size. He took a nervous step forwards. Having this strange urge to pet one.

"What are you starring at?" Garrott asked like the beasts weren't interesting enough to look at.

Draco gave him a confused look. "Can't you see them?" The auror just gave him a confused look. This kind of freaked Draco out. This guy was supposed to be protecting him against a killer werewolf yet he'd never seen anyone die.

Garrott started to look for danger since they weren't in the safe walls of Hogwarts when he noticed the boy who lived making his way over towards them with his friends behind him. "Let's go." He grabbed the Malfoy boy by the arm and started to drag him into the carriage. Once he'd snapped the door behind them the carriage started to move.

He smiled to himself when he heard a frustrated "dam" come from behind them.

.

They were one of the first carriages to arrive.

Garrott climbed out first before turning around as if to help Draco out as if he was a girl.

This bothered Draco. Just because he needed protection didn't make him a damsel in distress. He wasn't a girl and he could do things for himself. He made a point of obviously avoiding the gits hands and climbing out himself.

"Draco!" Was drawled to grab his attention.

Whipping his head around to see who called him. He smiled when he saw it was Severus who'd been responsible. He was standing by the main doors as if he was waiting for someone.

Draco dashed away from the auror to greet his godfather in a hug. Dodging the auror's hands as he tried to latch him to his side. Crashing into the potion masters form; Severus seemed surprised at first since he just stood they as my arms latched around him. I thought he didn't know how to hug until his arms snaked around my form and squeezed.

We must've made quite a sight for the other arriving students. Snape and Malfoy hugging.

After the war Draco realized that it really didn't matter what others thought of him. His father always taught him to act the proper pureblood but none of that mattered now. If he wanted to hug someone he would. With him being on house arrest and Mrs. Weasley not allowing Severus to leave his bed they hadn't been able to see each other but they'd exchanged letters.

It'd come as a surprise the first time he'd received a letter delivered by Potters white owl. He'd heard that Potter thought his owl had died on his 17th birthday but had really only been gravely wounded. A muggle animal service had nursed it back to health before releasing it back into the wild where it returned to Potter. It had a nice bald patch now on its back were feathers didn't grow anymore and a scar. Potter and his owl were now a matching set.

"Come. Let's get inside before any more come to gawk at us." Severus suggested as he referred to all the arriving students. Neville Longbottom had stopped not too far away with his mouth dropped open in shock. "What are you looking at?" He snapped at the boy who immediately went to catch up with Loony Luna. He may be a war hero now but no one can stand up to Severus' glare.

Once I released Severus I turned around to be greeted by a frowning Garrott. His look said it all. How can I protect you if you keep running away from me? Well he would just have to deal Draco thought to himself.

"Is this the auror they assigned you?" Severus asked questionably even though the boy was clearly marked by his dark scarlet robes. "Much younger than I thought he would be. If you let anything happen to my god son you'll have me to answer too?" He said it in a threatening voice.

"I'll make sure nothing will happen to him." Garrott answered with a little fear in his voice. Remembering the man's potion classes.

Severus started to steer Draco into the entrance hall but instead of heading to the great hall he headed to the stairs. Draco gave him a confused look. "McGonagall suggested that you take your first meal here in your room so that she can explain to the rest of the school your situation."

Draco had enough starring for the day. "Why aren't we headed to the dungeons then?" He asked as they ascended the stairs.

"McGonagall has also given you your own room to share with your auror. You'll be housed in one of the un-used teacher quarters for the school year. It's on the 3rd floor by the charms classroom. It's supposed to be Flitwicks but he likes his quarters closer to Ravenclaw tower." Snape explained.

Draco was so relieved to hear that. He couldn't imagine it a good situation if he had to room with Goyle. From what little interaction he had had with his ex-bodyguard he thought that he blamed him for the death of Crab since he'd been the one to suggest to go after Potter. The other boy would probably sit on him while he slept and suffocate Draco to death.

"Where you going?!" Could be heard called after them from the bottom of the stairs.

They turned around to see Potter at the bottom. Weasley looked exasperated behind him and Granger looked curiously up at them.

"Mind your own business Potter. You don't have to butt into everything!" Snape raised his voice so it would carry down the stairs then turning around to continue up them. Potters huff of annoyance was loud enough to be heard.

They ascended the stair before going down a hallway. They came to stop in front of a portrait of a famous charms master of course. Draco couldn't be bothered enough to remember the guy's name from history of magic.

"Wingardium leviosa." Snape said the password with a sigh. The man nodded and the portrait swung open to allow them entry. "You can change it later." Snape suggested as he climbed through.

Draco followed him and then looked around at where he would be sleeping for the next couple months of his life.

It wasn't set up in any of the house colours but in neutrals like purples and browns. They were standing in what looked like a nice sitting room. There was the usual seating arrangement around the fire and bookshelves. It had a window that overlooked the grounds with a window seat that he thought would be seeing a lot of use in the near future. There were five doors along the walls leading to what must be other rooms.

"This was meant for teachers with families. So there are two bedrooms so you won't have to share a room." Snape stopped to give Garrott a pointed look behind me as he climbed in as if to say something with his eyes. "The other three are a bathroom," he pointed towards the door between the two bedrooms. "A kitchen." He pointed to the door by the window seat. I raised my eyebrow at that. "And an office." He pointed towards the door closest to the portrait.

Draco was over whelmed with how much more privacy he was going to be able to get this year without having to share a common room with a hundred other students and no one to bother him. Well, except for Garrott. He didn't know how he felt sharing quarters alone with someone he hardly knew. He looked at the auror out of the corner of his eye. He was looking right back at him so he whipped his back around to stare at his godfather.

"I'm sure you two can handle it from here. I must make an appearance at the feast, to assure them that I'm alive, so I must be going. The house elves will be by soon to deliver your dinner." Snape said before leaving.

There was an award silence once they were left alone. At least Draco found it awkward.

"Can we make a deal that while we're in this room you'll give me my space? You can have the office and I can have the common room to myself for most of the time." Draco asked the auror. He knew that the man was going to be dodging his steps for the year but he needed a sanctuary where he was able to just be alone.

Garrott gave me a thoughtful look. "What if you're attacked and I'm not there?"

"You'll only be in the next room." Draco said huffily.

Garrott gave me the same look as before. "Fine, but only in these quarters." He put out his hand for me to shake.

Draco offered his hand but moved it back when the other man reached for it. "And you won't come in my bedroom unless I'm being attacked." He made a last minute add on. "Deal?"

Garrott rolled his eyes. "Deal." Grabbing my hand in a tight grip and shaking it a little longer than was strictly necessary.

"I'm taking the room to the right. Call me when the food gets here." Draco claimed as he grabbed his trunk that had been placed in the middle of the chambers and marched over to the door.

He dragged his trunk to the base of the bed before turning around and closing the door behind him. He leaned against it and sighed in relief. Alone at last he thought. This room was to be his true sanctuary.

Pushing off the door he went to go start unpacking his things.

**...TBC**

* * *

Yes I brought Hedwig back to life. It was a sudden impulse while writing. Don't question it.


	5. First Day

I've kind of forsaken my Merlin story for this one. It happened by accident. School had just ended and I had a bit of writers block so I started to write a random Harry/Draco I thought of to get me going again. My laptop started to do a weird countdown when I tried to turn it off. At first I just stopped it and went along with my business but it kept doing it. Finally I got tired of it and let it happen. When I turned my computer back on it was just a blue screen. Luckily at the last second I'd decided to back this story up on an external hard drive. I thought I'd done that to my Merlin story but apparently I hadn't, so the 4 chapters I'd written are now gone. It sucks to rewrite stuff.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_First day_

…

Draco raised his eyebrow when he sat down in his usual spot at the Slytherin table the next morning with his auror and all the people around him shifted away from them. They were alone now in the middle of the table and had a nice bubble of space between the other students. What did he have cooties now or something?

He tried to ignore it as he poured himself a cup of coffee. Draco could see his godfather handing out the schedules down the table. He put a muffin and some bacon on his plate as he waited for his turn.

When Severus finally reached him he handed him his schedule with only a "See you in class" As a greeting. The man was never very open with his affections towards his godson. He nodded to show that he got the message.

Draco took a sip of his coffee as he looked over the schedule Severus had just handed to him.

"Where are you going to go while I'm in class?" Draco asked Garrott. The auror reached over and plucked the schedule out of his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Looking over our schedule and seeing what classes I'll have to sit through again." Garrott replied.

"You mean you're going to be following me around to all of my classes." Draco said for confirmation. "Why?" He whined.

"What if Greyback attacked you in Transfiguration and I wasn't there to protect you." Garrott stated matter a fact as he took a stripe of bacon off his plate and took a bite.

"Then McGonagall would maul him and make him sorry he was every born." Draco responded back pettily.

Draco frowned as he slid his plate out of the aurors reach and took a bite of his chocolate chip muffin in thought. He quickly finished his muffin and downed the rest of his coffee in one go. "Let's go." Draco commanded as he realized that the great hall was emptying quickly as it grew closer to class time.

He climbed over the bench and made to leave hoping that the auror would just follow after him. He heard the man huff of annoyance, as he had to leave behind his plate of food to follow his charge.

They were walking through the entrance hall on their way to the dungeons when, "Malfoy!" Could be heard being called from behind them. The sound of trainers hitting stone could be heard. Draco turned around surprised until he realized it was Potter. He ran until he reached his side. "Hi." Harry greeted.

"Ah, hi." Draco replied surprised, which he received a smile for. He could see Garrott glare at the other boy out of the corner of his eye.

"So how's it been so far? No one's been bothering you." Harry asked slightly out of breath. He must have run all the way from the Gryffindor table when he noticed I was leaving the hall.

Potter wanted to check up on me he thought to himself. "No, but no one's really had a chance to either. McGonagall's given my own room, well a room I share with Garrott." Draco revealed. "I don't have to share a room with the other 8th year Slytherin boys."

"That was nice of her." Harry replied but he seemed to be thinking of something else. Looking between the auror and me.

"Come on, we must be getting to potion's, don't want to be late." Garrott said as he put his hand on Draco's shoulder. It always seemed that the young auror was literally dragging him away from his conversations with Potter. They descended into the dungeons. Garrott was fine until he noticed the footsteps behind us.

"Why are you following us?" Garrott demanded. From what he'd heard about these two is that they couldn't stand to be in the same room as each other. Now it was like they were inseparable.

"I have potions class too." Harry Potter replied back like Garrott was an idiot. Gryffindors always had potions with Slytherins.

Garrott groaned as he tried to man handle the Malfoy boy to class. He didn't think he could stand if the chosen one was always dodging his steps.

When they entered the classroom most of the other students had already arrived.

Ron waved Harry over to the front of the class where Hermione always liked to sit but he just brushed him off.

Draco took his usual seat on the Slytherin side in the middle in the back row. He used to have Crab and Goyle sit on each side of him but that wouldn't be happening ever again he thought a little sadly. Instead he had his auror sit on his left and surprisingly he had Potter sitting on his right.

"Aren't you on the wrong side of the room?" Garrott asked. He may not have been to school for a couple years but he still knew which house sat where.

"No. I'm fine right where I am." He lent around Malfoy to shoot the auror a pointed look.

Snape entered the room with a flare of his robes. Almost dying hadn't changed him one bit. He stopped and turned once he reached the front off the class to take stock of who was present in this particular class. His eyes narrowed when he realized something.

"Potter is there a reason you're sitting back there with Malfoy." Snape asked. Everyone turned back in their seats to look.

"I've just stopped fighting the fact that you'd just pair me up with him anyway." Harry answered with a smile. He'd come to understand that the happier you were the more pissed off it made the man.

"I'm glad to see you've finally surrendered to my will." Snape said sarcastically then turned to the rest of the class. "Take your textbooks out and turn to page. 464. You will complete this potion by the end of class. I'm sure you're all old enough to follow those simple instructions without me having to hold your hand. Begin."

Malfoy being the diligent potion student he was immediately went to grab his potion textbook from his bag. Flipping through the pages to find what was actually assigned. Stopping when he found the page and deflating when he read the title. "It's just a healing salve." He said disappointed, not particularly saying it to anyone.

He pushed the text in my direction to prep the area for brewing and allowing me to see the ingredient list. Probably thinking about how I was actually a student and the auror wasn't.

"The people you are sitting with will be your potion partners for the rest of the year." Snape informed the class.

Harry smiled when he heard the auror groin in frustration. Malfoy didn't notice the silent battle going on behind him because he was already busy setting up the cauldron. "Which one of you wants to get the ingredients?" He said obliviously.

"I will." Harry volunteered happily and skipped to the ingredient cupboard; feeling the auror glare on his back.

…

Harry was disgruntled he couldn't follow Malfoy around after potions but he had care of magical creatures while the Sytherine had arithmacy from what he had overheard.

He met up with his friends after to walk to there next class together.

"What was that all about, why were you sitting with Malfoy?" Ron didn't wait to ask.

"I was examining some ones character." Harry responded.

"I thought you liked Malfoy now?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Not Malfoy, the auror with him?" Harry said in frustration. "I don't know why but there's something about him that I just don't like."

"It was like hate at first sight with you two." Ron said thoughtfully, remembering there first meeting on the train platform.

"Do you have a bad feeling about him or something?" Hermione asked as they started to ascend the stairs to the entrance hall.

"Yeah." Harry said.

They stopped because this is where they separated from Hermione. She had Arithmacy on the 6th floor while they had to go to Hagrid's hut. That gave him an idea.

"Hey Hermoine. Do you think you can watch Malfoy for me? Make sure no one picks on him or anything." Harry asked as he watched the blond ascend the stairs with his auror.

Hermoine sighed. "Whatever, Fine. I don't want to be late. I shouldn't indulge you though." She said before leaving them to go to her class.

Harry and Ron left for the large doors that led to the grounds. Wondering which magical creature they were going to have to deal with today.

…

Draco sat in the back of the Arithmacy class alone with his auror.

The class was mixed between all the houses and the two older years. Not enough people wanted to take the complicated course for it not to be. He was lost in observing the class until someone sat beside him. He turned around in surprise.

"Granger?" Draco said questionably.

"Malfoy." She replied back simply.

What could she possibly be sitting with him for? Draco asked himself. He ignored her once class started.

…

Draco felt weird as went to class to class with his auror shadow. That's what he'll call the guy from now on, at least in his mind.

Draco made a beeline back to their new quarters as soon as classes ended for the day.

He wasn't sure if it was the ex-death eater thing or the auror following him around but none of his friends or fellow classmates had approached him yet.

Saying the password he dashed across the common area and into his room, closing the door behind him without saying anything to his auror.

Flopping down on his bed in exhaustion, he put his arm over his eyes.

He knew it was going to be a very long year but this day just cemented that sentiment. Could he really survive this year he thought to himself.

…

Harry watched the door anxiously for Malfoy's entrance at dinner.

Hermione watched in annoyance as Harry made his baked potato into mashed as he played with his food instead of eating it. His fork making a scratching noise as it slid across his plate. Finally in annoyance she grabbed his wrist to stop his movement. "Harry, what's bothering you so much?"

Harry sighed. "Sorry." He dropped the fork when he realized what he'd been doing. Hermione let go of his wrist then. "Malfoy just hasn't showed up to dinner yet."

Hermoine sighed at her best friend's fixation on the Slytherin boy. "I'm sure he's just taking dinner in his new rooms. He's probably tired of people staring at him." She shrugged her shoulders as she reassured her friend.

"You're probably right." Harry agreed with a shake of his head. "Where do you think the rooms are?" He asked not really expecting an answer. Mindlessly picking up his fork again and continuing to mash his potato. Hermione frowned in frustration.

"Hey are you going to eat that?" Ron asked as soon as he basically licked his plate clean.

Harry looked down at his plate and sighed in disgust at his actions. "No, you can have it." He pushed the plate towards his gluttonous best friend. "I'm going to bed." Standing up and leaving the table.

"But you haven't eaten anything?" Hermione called after him but when she received no response she turned back to her boyfriend as he was shoving the now mashed bake potato into his mouth. "Really Ron, I know your mother taught you better table manners than that." Harry could hear as he left.

…

Harry opened his trunk at the base of his bed.

He leaned on his knees. Shifting though the clothes and important items he'd placed in it. He made a sound of accomplishment when his hand found the thick blank parchment of the Marauder's map.

"I swear I'm up to no good." The marauders names appeared across the parchment. He unfolded the parchment to see all of Hogwarts uncoil before him.

Searching through all the names he looked for Malfoy.

The Slytherin wasn't anywhere in the dungeons surprisingly. Why couldn't he just make it easy for him? He decided to go by floor to look for the blond. Scanning first floor he didn't spot him anywhere so he moved on.

"There you are." Harry said to himself in accomplishment. He could see Draco Malfoy written in what appeared as a personal chamber on the second floor. There were a couple rooms together with only one marked exit.

The boy wasn't moving at all, it was like he was asleep. It was probably his new bedroom. The map didn't show furniture so there was most likely a bed under the boy. Harry was glad to see the auror's name Nathanial Garrott on the other side of the quarters far away from Malfoy.

Harry debated with himself. Fingering his invisibility cloak he got to thinking. Should he go down there? He asked himself. He stopped debating though when he remembered something. The quarters were most likely guarded by a portrait and he didn't have the password.

He could knock but the auror would most likely be the one who answered.

Sighing in disappointment. "Oh well. At least I know where he's rooming now." Harry said to himself. Tapping his wand against the parchment and saying "mischief managed."

…**TBC**


	6. Wand Use

I thought I'd post today because today is Canada day. I'll be spending my day watching a parade that comes down my street and drinking in my driveway then going to fireworks at night. I'm posting this while I should be getting ready for guests, I'm afraid my mom is going to yell at me any minute now.

So Happy Canada day to the world.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Wand Use_

…

Draco ate his English muffin and bacon with a relish at breakfast the next morning. He'd ended up falling asleep without dinner last night. For once he went for food first instead of coffee.

There was still a bubble around them.

Draco was disappointed. Shooting a look over at his supposed friends. They snapped their eyes away from him to avoid eye contact. Pansy was a bitch at the best of times so he wasn't surprised by her behavior but he was disappointed in Blaise.

Blaise was his best friend. The boy had never had to choose a side in the war and had stayed neutral through it all. He hoped that he wouldn't care what others would think and actually talk to him.

He was snapped back when his auror had stolen a stripe of bacon off his plate again."Why do you keep stealing my food?" Draco snapped. He never liked anyone touching his food. You never knew where their hands had been.

"Testing to make sure it isn't poisoned." Garrott answered before reaching like he was going to go for his coffee next. Draco snatched the mug away so fast he almost sloshed the hot liquid all over himself. Food was one thing but no one touched his coffee.

"No one's trying to kill me. Greyback just wants to kidnap me for some nefarious reason." Draco responded with a glare.

"You never know, someone might." Garrott said. "Your families made a lot of enemies in this war on both sides. Someone just might think it would be a pleasant idea to take out the Malfoy heir."

Draco's heart leapt in his chest. "You're not supposed to scare me." He said accusingly.

"Just telling the truth." Garrott said with a laugh at his expense.

"Let's just get to class." Draco grumbled as he grabbed his bag and strode for the doors of the great hall.

…

Draco took his seat in the back of the charms classroom to not draw attention to him self. He wasn't going to make the same mistake again of sitting in the middle of the room. This was one of the few classes that only featured 8th year students, since the room was small enough.

He watched as all the other students took their seats with their friends. Including his own while he was stuck with just his auror for company. Draco was snapped out of his trance when someone sat down beside him. Looking up in surprise it died when he saw it was Potter again. What could he want now?

"Why weren't you at dinner last night?" Potter asked like they were friends who had agreed to meet for a meal and he hadn't shown. Pulling his book and quills out making it seem like he was planning on staying for the duration of class.

"Fell asleep." Draco answered simply; caught off guard by the other boy's camaraderie towards him.

Professor Flitwick had to clear his throat to gain the attention of the class. "Welcome to 8th year charms. This is the first and only time it will be taught." The whole class looked around at each other in understanding, remembering the war.

"Since most of you went through the usual 7th year charm curriculum already this course will be comprised of learning additional advanced spells that are usually reserved for people who want to start a charms internship to join a field that heavily require the spell skill set. Today we will be concentrating on the anti-theft charm to warm up for the year before we move into more complicated spells. Please take out your wands and we will begin." Flitwick instructed. "You will take out an item and place it on your desk, your table partner will then try and steal it then vise versa."

Draco reached into his robe where he usually kept his wand without even thinking about it. He was surprised for a second to find nothing before remembering why. Turning to his auror he asked with wounded pride. "Do you think I can get my wand back?"

"Right." Garrott exclaimed in a tone of voice revealing he had totally forgot. "But only for the class period." The auror reached into his own robe and pulled out his charges wand and handed it to him.

Draco could feel as his magic reconnected to his wand. The hawthorn wand with a unicorn hair core felt so familiar in his hands. It made him feel drowsy and electrified at the same time. Made him just want to curl up with it and never let it go again. Contentment started seeping through his system. He smiled to himself as his fingertips tingled.

"You aren't going to actually only give him his wand for classes are you?" Potter asked his auror snappily.

"I'm under orders to since Malfoy is still under parole." Garrott defended his reasoning.

'Why did they always end up fighting?' Draco asked himself as he observed the two. Drifting off into his own mind.

"That isn't right! A wizard feels dis-jointed when they're separated from their wands for too long." Harry yelled back. Thinking about when his wand was broken when they were looking for Horcruxes.

Draco turned to look at the other boy. Potter made a valid point. If this were how he was going to feel every time he was reconnected with his wand he'd probably be useless in classes.

"Rules are rules." Garrott replied snottily to Potter like he enjoyed denying him.

"Mr. Potter you are supposed to be performing the anti-theft charm, not arguing with aurors. 10 points from Gryffindor. Get to work." Flitwick reprimanded the golden boy.

Draco slid further down his seat as to hide himself when their table received looks from the entire class. Attention was just exactly what he was trying to avoid. 'Thanks a lot Potter' he thought.

.

They packed up their books once the class was dismissed.

"What do you have next?" Harry asked. He knew he had his next class was mixed and didn't include an Slytherins so he was curious where Malfoy was going.

"Stupid muggle studies." Draco complained with a frown. He'd avoided taking the class every year. His father always said it was useless and he could be spending his time on much better things. It was mandatory for all pure bloods to take the class now to better understand the culture.

"It isn't that bad at all. You just go over technology and watch movies." Harry thought the blond was being dramatic about having to take the class.

"What's a moo-v?" Draco asked perplexed.

"Yeah you need the class." Harry patted the Slytherin's shoulder sympathetically. It was weird to realize that the boy being raised in the wizarding world didn't about a bout a lot of things that he just assumed all people did.

"At least you don't have to take wizard society." Harry complained back. They added a new course after the war that was required for all muggle raised students to take too just so it would be fair.

"I was home schooled in it before I even came to Hogwarts. If you are going to stay in the wizarding world and get a job, there are rules and etiquette that you need to know." Draco replied snottily. "At least what you're learning is useful later in your life. When am I going to use my knowledge of muggle society?" He asked.

"If you ever want to pass as a muggle." Harry replied thinking about all the wizards he'd seen trying to look like a muggle and failing horribly. He thought about how Lucius had actually raised Malfoy. "Just curious, have you ever left the wizarding world before?"

"No." Draco replied sharply. "Why would I ever want to?"

"If you've never left the wizarding world how do you know you wouldn't like the muggle world?" Harry asked.

"I've got to go or I'll be late." Draco said as an excuse to leave. He felt uncomfortable with this topic of conversation. He didn't like how muggle born wizards looked at him like he was mentally incompetent when he didn't know what a telephone was.

…

Harry stormed into the Gryffindor common room. Seeing his friends by the fire he went to join them. Slumping into one of the plush chairs. He hadn't been able to get it out of his head all day.

"Something wrong mate?" Ron asked, reading his friends dejected body language.

"Hermione, do you know what the ministry's rules for wizards on parole for wands are?" Harry asked, ignoring his best friend's question.

"Yes, why." Hermione asked as she put the book down she had been reading. Feeling like this conversation would require all of her attention.

"Malfoy's only allowed his wand during classes and I wanted to see if I could get that changed." Harry answered.

"Of course, Malfoy." Ron mumbled to himself. Thinking how everything out of his friend's mouth lately seemed to be about the git. It was only the first day of school and he was already tired of it.

"I don't think you can. Usually on wizard on parole is only allowed a ministry wand that is only strong enough to perform cleaning charms so he's lucky to even be allowed any use of his regular wand." Hermione answered.

"Isn't it bad to sparsely use your magic like that?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Yes, it's really bad. The less you use your magic the weaker it becomes. It's my opinion that the ministry made this rule on purpose, to keep the wizard weak so that they can't pose a threat to society anymore." Hermione explained.

Harry was horrified to hear that. "That's completely barbaric." Ron gave him a weird look when he said that. It was official; he was turning into Hermione. "I don't think he was given a ministry wand though."

"You could request he be allowed one of those so he can keep his strength up." Hermione suggested kindly.

"I think I know just who to talk to." Harry exclaimed deep in thought.

…

The halls were pretty empty since it was late in the evening. Harry knocked on the Defence of the Dark arts class room. A deep voice told him he could enter. He turned the handle and pushed the door open. He could see that the large classroom was lite by only one candle on the professor's desk that the man was using to mark papers by.

"Kingsley, do you think I can talk to you about something?" Harry asked the long term auror. He knew the man through the order of the phoenix so he felt comfortable with asking him for this.

"Come in, take a seat." Kingsley suggested, placing his papers aside to show that he had his full attention. "What is it?"

Harry took a seat on the other side of the desk from the large man. "I was wondering if a wizard on parole who's allowed use of his own wand only when supervised can also possibly get one of the ministry issued wands?"

"Which wizard are we talking about?" Kingsley asked while rubbing his chin. He was pretty sure who the boy was talking about. He'd seen them sit together during his class.

"Well, Malfoy actually." Harry admitted.

"Are you sure he doesn't already have one?" The Kingsley asked. He didn't want to put the request in only be told that it was already done.

Harry thought hard about if he'd ever seen the blonde using another wand other than his own. He focused on the fact that it was mostly used for cleaning spells. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't. I've seen him spill something and him clean it by hand."

"It's usually part of parole to be issued one but if it was over looked, I can request Mr. Malfoy be sent one." Kingsley agreed.

"That would be great." Harry thanked the man. Standing up once he got what he came for.

…**TBC**

* * *

*The awkward trying to get to know someone time.


	7. Drag

_**Anouncement:** OMG, I just realized that I forgot to put a chapter in. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. I've been posting in the early morning before I go to work so I'm not awake yet so I guess I messed up when posting chapter 5._

_I have now fixed my mistake and you can go back and read it. Remember it's **chapter 5**. I suggest that you go back and read the whole thing again from that point on because I just ended up shifting some things around and adding a lot of stuff too. I like it a lot better now._

I'll also be posting this a new chapter I'd already planned to. Just think you'll get two new chapters if you've been reading this already.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

…

Harry showed up early for transfiguration and sat at Malfoy's usual table. He looked anxiously at the door when anyone entered.

The room was filled with 8th years from every house. They'd been given the choice of retaking 7th year transfiguration or a new advance course. Many chose to accept the offer though some slackers decided to repeat.

Malfoy raised his eyebrow when he saw what seat I had decided to take. Sitting beside me, with his auror sliding in beside him.

"Are you going to be stealing my seat in every class?" Draco asked.

"Who says you have the monopoly on the back row." Harry responded back. Malfoy rolled his eyes at that but didn't argue that he sat in the same spot in every class; middle back row.

"How'd you manage to get in this class?" Malfoy asked. At Potter's confused expression he extended his question. "I mean that you weren't here at school last year so you never took 7th year transfiguration in the first place. I thought that was mandatory to get into this course."

"McGonagall made an exception for Hermione and me. She was adamant that I had to take this course." Harry responded.

"So do you know what this course is actually about?" Malfoy leaned in closer to whisper to him.

"No. She wouldn't tell me what it was just that I'd really enjoy it." Harry whispered back. Shooting the auror an annoyed looked as he tried to listen into their conversation.

It wasn't noticed that the teacher had entered the room until a loud meow was heard by the front desk. Everyone quieted down. It seemed McGonagall wanted every ones attention so she could make a grand entrance.

She jumped off the desk and simultaneously transformed out of the animal form of a cat. The old witch smiled at the class once she had all their attention.

"We've decided to keep the true topic of study secrete until now so that people who would misuse it wouldn't join the course. You are allowed to drop the course if you want but no one is allowed to join." The witch turned around to the board and started writing something on it that no one could see because she was covering it. She stood aside to reveal it. "Welcome to introduction to animagus forms." She said with enthusiasm.

The whole class burst out into excited chattering.

No wonder McGonagall insisted that he'd like this course Harry thought to himself. Malfoy looked intrigued while his auror looked over the moon. It was probably the only course teaching anything he hadn't learned already Harry guessed.

"Quite down, now I know some of you know what an animagus is but for those few whom don't we will go over it. Who here wants to tell the rest of the class what we will be learning?" McGonagall asked.

Hermione's hand shot into the air and quite a few others. Harry was surprised when his hand subconsciously ended up in the air too. He usually never volunteered answers in class except if he was singled out by a teacher.

"How about you Harry." McGonagall pointed at him.

He was a little surprised to be chosen out of everyone but answered anyway. While putting his hand down, he could see Hermione's disappointed face out of the corner of his eye. "An animagus is a wizard who can morph himself into an animal at will."

"Yes, five points to Gryffindor. In this course we will be learning the theory behind this process in a lot more detail than we did in third year. Then progressing into actually performing the process of becoming an animagus yourself." McGonagall explained.

Turning to write on the board the amount that the theory part was worth versus the practical part; 70% theory to 20% Practical and 10% professionalism. "Because of the complexity of the magic involved to become an animagus I can't fail or pass you on the fact if you succeed or not to becoming one. It is very rare to actually become one. Most of this course will be graded on your essays about the theory."

A lot of students looked disappointed about this fact. Their hopes of becoming cool animals being dashed.

"Doesn't mean you can't succeed with a lot of determination." She said to give them hope. "It is a requirement that you must register with the ministry if you do succeed or you will face a sentence of quite a few years in Azkaban." McGonagall stopped for dramatic effect. "What department must you register?" She asked the class in general.

Hermione raised her arm again but started to swing it around this time to draw attention to herself so as not to be over looked. Harry saw McGonagall roll her eyes before indicating for the younger witch to answer.

"The Improper Use of Magic Office." Hermione answered.

"What two things must you register?" McGonagall added on.

"Revealing your animal form and any distinguishing markings." Hermione answered without second-guessing herself.

"Correct. That's a fact about animagus forms that you must remember. Each Animus bears an identifying mark on their animal form that is caused by their human body." McGonagall wrote the fact on the board as she spoke. "Mine is the hair pattern around my eyes left by my spectacles that transfigured with me."

"What does the word animagus actually mean?" The old witch asked without turning around.

"It's the combination of two words, "animal" and the Latin word "animus", meaning "animal wizard". Hermione answered with a smile.

"Good, 5 points for Gryffindor. I hope all of you are taking notes on this because it will be on the exam." McGonagall exclaimed. Many shocked faces looked at her before much ruffling of paper could be heard as they dug their parchment and quills out of their bags.

Harry was one those people though he was surprised when Malfoy wasn't moving to do the same beside him. When he sat up straight again and looked over at the boy he saw that he'd already been copying everything that'd been said with his neat script.

He tried to discreetly peek over the Sytherine's shoulder to copy his notes but was caught. Malfoy rolled his eyes before sliding the notes over for him to see openly. Harry gave the other boy a sheepish smile before copying what the other boy had written in his own messy handwriting.

.

They left the class room and started making their way down the hall way for their next class. Harry stopped when Malfoy grabbed his arm. He turned around confused what the boy could want.

"What is this?" Draco asked gesturing between them. "Are you following me around to make sure that I don't do anything bad because I can assure you that I wouldn't be able to do anything with this Auror following me 24/7." He said sarcastically, gesturing behind him at the large man.

Garrott crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance that he had to wait around and listen to this conversation.

"No. It has nothing to do with that this time." Harry denied he was following Malfoy for that reason. "This year a lot of people are treating me, differently."

"You mean acting like you're a gift from god." Malfoy said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. Even some of my friends have started doing it." Harry widened his eyes. "I know you'd never treat me differently just because I defeated the dark lord. It's actually nice being around you, even with all the snark and smirking."

"You mean I stop you from getting a big head from all the hero worship crap." Draco said flippantly.

"Exactly, glad we understand each other now." Harry smiled as he continued to walk.

"So…" Draco dragged out the word. "You want to be friends, or something?" He asked following the brunette; saying it like it was painful.

"Friend isn't a bad word you know, and yes." Harry raised an eyebrow at the blond. "You're the one who asked for the truce you know."

"Yeah, meaning that I didn't want to fight with you anymore since I'd already have enough enemies at school to deal with." Draco shrugged and looked at the Gryffindor contemplatively.

"Does that mean you don't want to be my friend?" Harry asked, giving the Sytherine puppy dog eyes which didn't work very well with his large framed glasses on.

"I never thought it was an option." Draco responded uncomfortably under the green eyes intense stare.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused. "I'm not some unreachable god or something just because I'm famous."

"Come on." Draco gave him an incredulous look. "The great Harry Potter, world savior, friends with an ex-death eater. What will the world think?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I don't care what strangers think of my decisions. Never have, never will." He shrugged it off.

"What about your friends? The rest of the golden-trio have any say in this? I'm sure Weasley won't be thrilled." Draco pointed out self-satisfied.

"Hermione is actually, thrilled, that I'm trying to bury the hatchet with you and Ron is just going to have to get over it." He shrugged off his best friend's reaction.

"You've hated me for years why would that change now all a sudden?" Draco asked curiously.

"Well after spending some actual time in your presence without the war getting in the way, I realized that you aren't who I always thought you were." Harry answered. "You're actually kinda funny and smart, OK." He tried to play it off like it wasn't that big a change in opinion.

"Glad to see you finally acknowledges my superiority." Draco said smugly. For years he'd yearned for Potters friendship and now it was actually happening. His eleven year old self was doing a happy dance in his head.

"Come on, let's give it a go, try it out, and if it doesn't work and we start fighting again, we can at least say we tried." Harry begged.

Draco sighed and looked at Potter contemplatively. His house mates were avoiding him right now and the rest of the school thought he was the next evil over lord. He could use a friend right now even if it was potter. "Alright, I guess we can give it a shot."

"Awesome, so does that mean I can be your official potions partner?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Now I'm starting to think you just want me for my potion skills." Draco said sarcastically, though he was actually a little wary that it may be true. Remembering how awful Potter used to be at the subject. He never thought he'd be in the position of the geek that people just wanted to use him for his brain.

"Is that a yes?" Harry asked cheekily.

"Do you see anyone else fighting to be my partner?" Draco said with narrow eyes, sighing since that fact was true.

"That's great!" Harry exclaimed in accomplishment.

Draco rolled his eyes at his over excited reaction. He could see his auror tapping his foot in impatience up a head. "Come on Scar-head, or we're going to be late for Defense." he said as he continued walking and the Gryffindor just followed him.

...

The next morning in Potion class Potter spent the whole thing with him. Draco wasn't sure if it was because they were stuck as potion partners now or because he actually meant what he said the day before. He was friendly the whole time though chatting away.

Snape dismissed class only after the bell rang.

Garrott went to walk towards the great hall once class was over for lunch but the Malfoy boy walked in the opposite direction. "Where you going?" He ran to catch up with the boy.

"I'm going to the library. McGonagall has already assigned an essay and I want to get it done and out of the way." Draco explained as he strides down the hallways.

"But what about lunch, you know food?" The auror asked sarcastically.

"You go if you want. I'm busy." Draco said in his old snotty way before strutting off out of the dungeons and up the stairs. He knew that he would be followed anyway because the auror would get in trouble if he didn't follow. He reached the doors to the library and pushed them open.

Draco sighed in relief when he realized that the library only held two Ravenclaws and one first year Hufflepuff. Nothing threatening about that he thought to himself. Really he just wanted to get away from all the starring.

Strutting over to the transfiguration section without making eye contact with anyone. He could see his auror take a seat huffily as he slipped into the aisle. He scanned the book spins till he found a text about animagus. Sliding it off the shelf, he tucked it under his arm. He turned back to see if there was anything else that looked useful.

"Draco?" Came a familiar voice further down the aisle with a nervous tone.

"Blaise?" Draco was so surprised he dropped his book at the appearance of the other boy.

"Everything alright back there?" Draco heard Garrott yell from the other side of the aisle.

He really didn't want the auror to come back here and disturb his first conversation with a friend since he got here. "Yeah, just a case of butter fingers, dropped my book." He made up an excuse. Hearing the slight snort in amusement the other man made in confirmation the he'd bought it.

"What are you doing here?" Draco whispered as to not be over heard by the auror. He still had to talk loud enough for his friend to hear him from a distance. He signaled for the Italian boy to come closer so they could whisper into each other ears.

"Same thing you are, but when I saw that you were alone for once I wanted to take the chance to talk to you." Blaise whispered under his breath as he walked closer while shooting the book shelve a nervous look. "I guess I was wrong." He said referring to the for-mentioned aurors presence close by.

"Yeah, I've noticed no one from Sytherines talked to me since I got here." Draco said as he reached down to pick his book back up. "Are they mad at me or something?" He whispered into his friend's ear.

"No." Blaise said a little too loud for Draco's liking so he shushed him. The Italian looked sheepish before talking again. "It's nothing like that. We just don't know how to approach you with that auror always around." He whispered back in his friend's ear.

"Potter seems to be the only one who can." Draco said with a roll of his eyes as he thought of his nemesis weird actions lately.

"I was wondering why he's been following you around." Blaise gave him a questionable look.

"We kind of made a truce at my trial and he's took it to heart." Draco said. "He hate's my auror for some reason and just seems to like to grate his nerves." Cupping his friend's ear as he explained.

"What's this?" Draco froze when he heard the voice behind him and Blaine's eyes widened at the sight of the large auror over his shoulder.

Draco turned around on his heel to look the auror in the eye. "I'm just talking to my friend." He tried to say with innocence.

"Right, talking." Garrott said while shooting Blaise a narrowed eyed look. Referring to their close positions. Blaise noticed this and shuffled away from his friend who gave him a confused look. "You've got your book, so we should go." The auror started to drag Draco out of the aisle to the front desk by his wrist.

"I wasn't finished talking." Draco tried to drag his feet to stop his forward monition but it was no use. The auror was just so much stronger than his willowy frame so he gave up for now.

Once they reached where madam Pince his book was grabbed out of his hand and placed it on the counter. "He'd like to take this out." The librarian gave him an un-happy look but opened the cover and stamped the card. Garrott shot her a smile before dragging his charge out the library doors.

…**TBC**


	8. Bruise

Here's the chapter I promised.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Bruise_

**…**

Harry ate quickly as he watched his target across the hall. Malfoy was picking at his food while shooting looks towards where his friends sat. The auror was sitting beside the blond like he hadn't done anything wrong.

"I'm going to go to the library. Get McGonagall's project started." Harry said as he got up from the bench so his presence could be excused.

"I'm proud of you for taking the initiative in your schoolwork. Ron and I will come with you." Hermione exclaimed and started to get up.

Dam he thought. Harry didn't think that Hermione would approve of what he was really doing. Ron didn't say anything to argue against her because his mouth was full but looked longingly at his full plate. That gave Harry an idea.

"No. You're both not finished eating yet. I can go by myself. See you guys later." Harry made an excuse before quickly leaving.

Hermione blinked at his quickly retreating back.

.

Instead of heading to the library he made his way to the second floor. Checking to make sure the coast was clear before taking his invisibility cloak out of his bag and the map.

He put the cloak on before checking the map. He knew that Malfoy's quarters were around here somewhere. Spotting where he'd seen Slytherin's name yesterday. Watching his own name get closer as he made his way through the halls to the area. On the map he could see that the blonde and auror were just leaving the great hall now.

He came to stand in front of a portrait of an old wizard holding a charms book. 'This must be it. All he had to do was wait now.' Harry thought as he turned around so he could see when they were coming.

It wasn't too long until he could hear someones footsteps coming from down the hall. Malfoy and his auror appeared getting bigger as they got nearer. Harry had to dodge out of their path since he was invisible they couldn't see that a space was occupied.

"Wingardium Leviosa." The auror spoke when he came to stand in front of the portrait. The man in the painting nodded and swung open to allow them entrance.

Malfoy climbed through first and Harry was lucky to be able to make it in beside the auror without notice. He had to risk it because even though he knew the password now he was sure the two would find it weird if the portrait opened seemingly by itself.

'So that was the password' Harry thought to himself as he slipped in behind the two. They entered into a pleasant looking sitting room.

"Do you think we can change the password? It's really stupid to have one that any first year can by accidentally say as they pass." Malfoy suggested as he walked over to what must be his bed room.

"Sure." Garrott answered while watching his charge disappear for the night thoughtfully.

Harry quickly followed the blonde. He had to use his foot to stop him from closing the door before he could get in. Malfoy gave the door a weird look before brushing it off.

Harry sighed in relief that he'd made it to the Slytherin's room without being caught. He looked around at the simple lay out of the room. It only contained a double bed, dresser, and a study table. The colours were the typical Slytherin green but he was guessing that the school set it up that way because he was sure that Malfoy didn't bring any curtains with him to school.

Malfoy put his bag on the desk and before Harry could reveal himself, started undressing himself. His cloak and sweater were off before he could blink. When the blond went for the buttons on his shirt he had to do something.

"Malfoy." Harry spoke to announce his presence. Removing the hood to reveal his head.

"Fuck." Malfoy jumped in surprise. Whipping his head around to see who had spoken. "Potter, what the fuck are you doing?" Sounding not as surprised to see a floating head as he should've.

"I came to speak to you." Harry admitted.

Grey eyes narrowed at him. "You couldn't have just waited till class tomorrow."

"Not with that auror looking over your shoulder!" Harry snapped.

"Quite down, unless you want said auror to come running." Malfoy said under her breath while shooting the door looks. "What do you want?"

Harry didn't answer because he was distracted by the creamy white skin that was revealed by the buttons that the Slytherin had managed to undo. Malfoy snapped in his fingers in my face. "Sorry." He shook his head to remember why he was here. "I want to talk about those bruises." Harry looked pointed at the blond.

Malfoy tugged his shirt sleeve self-consciously to cover his wrist. "It's nothing, I bruise easy."

"Let me see." Harry demanded while holding out a hand towards the blond. Malfoy looked like he was going to shuffle away so he snatched his hand and rolled up the sleeve. "He must have been grabbing you pretty hard." The bruises had started to turn purple.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "He's an auror, he's strong." Tugging his hand away unsuccessfully.

"What was so important that he had to drag you physically from the library anyway?" Harry asked. Letting the boys hand go once he realized his struggles.

Malfoy flopped onto the bed on his back and sighed. "I'm not exactly sure. All I was doing was talking to Blaise, and he really didn't seem to like that."

"Zambini right?" Harry asked since he hardly ever heard the Slytherin's first names. Malfoy nodded. "You're not allowed to talk to your friends now." Harry said rhetorically.

Malfoy shrugged. "Apparently."

"Has he done anything to you? Been treating you badly?" Harry asked as he sat in the desk chair.

"It's only been a couple days. You actually sound like you care." Malfoy turned his head to look at him.

Green met grey. "I do."

"Yeah right." Malfoy sighed.

"I'm surprised that you haven't asked how I'm invisible yet." Harry questioned.

"It's common knowledge that you have an invisibility cloak. It is disconcerting though when you're just a floating head." Malfoy said as he turned his head sideways and looked at him.

"How's it common knowledge." Harry asked.

"All the biographies that came out over the summer about you. It's mentioned in all of them." Malfoy replied.

"You actually read one of those." Harry asked incredulously.

Malfoy shook his head. "I was in Azkaban stupid, then on house arrest. When would I have been able to make a trip to Flourish and Blots? I'm just teasing you about their mere existence."

"Now I feel like I have to check my room for invisible Potter's every time I get undressed." Malfoy said teasingly.

"Hey, I stopped you before your shirt was off." Harry defended himself.

That reminded Draco that he'd started to take off his shirt before Potter had revealed himself. Realizing he was laying sprawled his bed with his shirt half undone he sub-consciously he held his shirt closed.

"Come on, you should leave before anyone questions your absence. I don't know what the Gryffindor's are doing without their leader." Malfoy said as he rolled off the bed and made his way towards the door.

"You don't think my friends haven't figured out I'm not at the library yet." Harry asked rhetorically. "Well, Hermione must've." Thinking about how Ron was probably playing chess without even giving him a thought right now.

"That was your excuse. That's weak." Malfoy turned back to look at him. The blond opened the door and peaked out at the common area. "It's clear." He opened the door all the way and indicated for him to go.

Harry went to do just that when the blond stopped him by putting a hand on his invisible shoulder, having to feel around for a second to find it. "What?"

"You forgot your hood." Malfoy explained as he reached behind him and pulled the hood over his head. He squinted at the space before him. "Amazing, there's no sign at all that you're there." He remarked while peering closely to examine closer.

Harry stumbled back when Malfoy's face got close enough that they could bump noses. His heart beat fast, the blond probably could judge the distance between them anymore even though he knew he was in front of him. "That's the point of it." He exclaimed before quickly walking to the portrait hole. He was sure that the only way Malfoy could tell he left was the painting opening and closing by its self.

…**TBC**


	9. Weekend

Some in a review didn't think that I could use Greyback as a bad guy because he's dead.

All the interesting bad guys died so that's why I chose to use the werewolf. I want to point out that it's unclear if Greyback died in the battle of Hogwarts since he is never confirmed dead unlike many other characters. He was a character who I could easily make people believe that he was on the run from the aurors unlike Bellatrix who had a very public death. It seems to me a werewolf was just knocked unconscious and did not actually die.

I never remembered him dying in the book so I thought he'd be safe to use. The movie had him go a completely different way than in the book; Seamus never blew up a bridge. I have even confirmed with the internet so don't argue this fact. My story is based on the books not the movies.

I'm going to write a short paragraph to explain Greyback's existence in the world of the living and post it in the first chapter. I brought Snape and Hedwig back to life so why not Greyback?

Now I set my goal for today to finish rewriting a chapter for Deviner Captive.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Weekend_

…

The first week of school felt like it dragged on for Draco. He was glad when the weekend finally arrived. His plan was to hole his himself up in his room and just work on homework, trying to ignore the rest of the school and their ignorance of his situation.

There was a problem with his plan though.

Because it was only the first week of school most teachers didn't give out homework with the exception of McGonagall and Severus. Though because he had no one to socialize with, he'd spent all his free time in the library finishing these assignments. Therefore before Friday night had even arrived, he was bored out of his mind.

Lying on his bed he debated what he could do to entertain himself to pass the time.

He'd already written his mother a letter filling her in on everything that was going on. He even wrote his father too since it was all he really had to look forward to in prison. Draco knew from experience; hearing from a loved one was all that got you through living in a place like that.

Since they actually had windows in the tower the auror was allowed to keep an owl in his office so he wasn't able to use the excuse of having to send a letter at the Owlery to go for a walk. Every evening he'd dragged the auror to the library but this evening he'd refused to so Draco was forced to stay in their quarters because the auror refused to leave his office.

Draco never even contemplated sneaking out.

Before he was left in his aurors custody he'd been drilled on the conditions of his release. He wasn't allowed to sneak away or physically fight him because he'd be given a warning. After three warnings they were going to ship him back to Azkaban for an undetermined amount of time until they thought he learned his lesson. It was still a soul sucking place even without the dementors. He didn't want to go back there ever again so he was determined to be on good behavior, or at least save it for a more direr situation than boredom.

Draco really had no one to talk to right now, well at least not anyone he wanted to confess his woes to. Then his eyes snapped open in realization. He'd been thinking of other students when an adult crossed his mind. How could he forget about his godfather? The man he used to go to when he scraped his knee and he's make it all better when he was young.

He could go see Severus. Looking at the clock he realized that it was already past curfew. Even if he wasn't on probation no students were supposed to be wandering the hallways after this time. Draco guessed he would just have to wait till tomorrow he thought to himself.

There was nothing to do but go to sleep. Climbing off the bed to put his pajamas on and then sliding under the covers. Putting the light out before closing his eyes trying to force himself to fall a sleep.

…

The next morning he knocked on the auror's office door self-consciously.

"What?" Garrott yelled through the door.

"I wish to go see my godfather!" Draco yelled back through the door like he was commanding instead of asking.

"Later, I'm busy." His auror responded.

Draco glared at the door in frustration. He should be able to go where he pleased and the auror should just follow. "I'm going right now with or without you!" He snapped as he turned to stomp to the portrait hole. The auror had already kept him cooped up the night before and he wasn't going to stand for it a moment longer. "I just thought I'd give you the courtesy to know that I was leaving."

On his way out the portrait hole he could hear the office door slam open and stomping feet getting louder as they got closer to his position. He was already a good ways down the hall before the auror caught up with him.

"You can't just leave without me like that." Garrott reprimanded his charge. He tried to grab the boys arm to drag him back to their room but he dodged his grip and picked up his pace. He huffed in frustration before following reluctantly.

"Your job is to follow me wherever I want to go, not keep me prisoner inside my room because you have your own things to do." Draco snapped as he reached the moving stair cases and started to make his way downwards.

Garrott stood on the landing fuming for a second before dashing after his charge not wanting to lose him on the ever changing stair cases. He had to rush to the next landing when the stairs decided to move.

Draco stalked quickly across the entrance hall to the dungeons entrance. Not bothering to look back to see if he'd lost his auror shadow or not on his way down. He didn't think he'd get a warning for this because he'd actually told the auror he was leaving so it couldn't be considered sneaking away.

Stopping in front of a door just past the potions room he rapped on his godfather's quarters.

The door flew open.

Who dared disturb him so early on his day off? Snape had just been sitting down to enjoy a morning cup of tea. He was ready to give the culprit a severe talking down when he saw who it was. "Draco?" His temper immediately deflated.

"Hi Severus. I was wondering if you were available for a talk?" Draco asked with a pitiful look on his face for affect.

Snape only looked at his godson for a second before opening the door wider to allow him entrance. Rolling his eyes at the look on the blonds face. That boy surely knew how to manipulate people. When the auror went to follow him in he blocked the way. "I assure you that my godson is safe with me, you can wait out here." Snape informed the man before slamming the door in his face.

Turning around he saw his godson smirking at him innocently while sipping his tea in his favorite chair. Rolling his eyes he stalked over and took out another cup before sitting down in the chair across from him. Pouring himself more tea. "What is it that you wished to talk to me about?"

Draco sighed. "Just wanted someone to talk to." He admitted as he took a sip of tea thoughtfully.

'He's lonely.' Snape thought. He would've felt complimented that the boy sought him out for company if he didn't know that he didn't have many choices right now. All the Sytherines' hated aurors' and with the blond being in constant company of one they'd been avoiding him.

"Has there been any problems this week?" Snape asked imploringly. Hogwarts wasn't as settled as Minerva would like to believe. The students were still fighting a battle between the houses but instead of using deadly curses they were using hurtful words and fists. Slytherin was paying this year for their superior position the year before.

"Not really." Draco mumbled. He hadn't been bullied by anyone because of the aurors presence but he would rather that instead of being segregated from his friends. After having their parents put away in Azkaban or killed in the battle they had no love for aurors. "I'm bored out of my mind without any of my friends to talk to. Do you think you can give me an extra credit assignment?" Draco asked hopefully, he just needed something to put his mind to.

'He must be really desperate to ask for extra homework.' Snape thought to himself. Rubbing his chin in thought. "Since one assignment doesn't seem enough to keep you occupied for the year I won't bother giving you any." Having to come up with new assignments all the time seemed tedious. His godsons face dropped at that. "I'll give you full permission to use the potion lab whenever you want though."

Draco's face lit up at that. "And the key's to your personal ingredient cupboard." The boy asked with an innocent smile at his god father.

Snape rolled his eyes. He reached into his pocket and retrieved his ring of keys. Removing his extra key, he presented his godson with it. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do. ."

Draco snatched the key out of his palm. "Thank you. Can't wait to get started on some experiments. I'm going to get started right now." The boy dashed to the door and threw it open. He would've hit the auror if he hadn't used his fast reflexes to jump out of the way.

"Where are you going now?" He could hear the auror ask snap in annoyance as he followed the footsteps of his quickly retreating god son.

Draco had him wrapped around his finger. He always had ever since Lucius had named him the boys godfather and he'd looked into those large grey eyes of his childish face.

When the boy grew older he'd gave him a child's potion set for his 6th birthday. Narcissa had been horrified when her son had taken an apt interest in the toy and made an explosion, ruining a Persian carpet. She yelled at him through the floo to have a safety talk with the child about potions. Since then he'd considered his godson his protégé.

If that boy didn't create a new potion by the end of the year he'd be completely shocked. Snape thought as he sipped his tea.

…

Harry spent the weekend hanging out with his friends. Other than the short time finishing their assignments in the library that Hermione insisted on Saturday, they spent the whole weekend playing Quidditch or by the lake. It felt like old times again.

They were making their way back up to the common room after dinner. Walking across the entrance hall when Ron felt something brush against his robes but he just shrugged it off.

"Ron, you just ran over a first year." Hermione admonished him.

"Sorry." The red head said to a dazed first year, which was on the floor. The first year's friend glared up at him as he helped up and led his classmate away. "They just keep getting smaller each year." He said to Hermione as they continued to walk, she sighed.

"You just need to start paying more attention to where you're going. It's not like you walk into everything that's below waist height." Hermione huffed.

"They are miniscule. Were we ever that small?" Ron turned to ask Harry.

"It's why the three of us could fit under my invisibility cloak." Harry pointed out as they started to ascend the stairs. "Now we can hardly fit just you, alone."

"It's not my fault I grew up to be so tall, blame my dad." Ron stood up straighter to emphasize his height. Harry was standing on the step above him and he was still shorter.

Harry stopped on the landing where they were on even ground. "I'm not that short, you're just really tall." He hardly came up to the red heads chin. Harry straightened up from his slouched posture as if to compete with his friend's tall stature even though he knew he was no competition.

"Honestly you two." Hermione admonished. "Harry really didn't do too badly, at all, considering his malnutrition as a child." She pointed out scientifically and walked past them to continue their trek.

Harry blushed at the mention of his past. He wasn't that scared little boy anymore. He may still have his large classes but he didn't hide behind them anymore.

They all climbed through the fat lady and sat around the fire that was surprisingly empty on a Sunday night. Harry took a lounge chair while Hermione and Ron sat on the couch together.

"You've at least filled out more than I have." Ron said jealous of his muscle tone. Harry flexed his arm to show off. During the war he'd started to work out; never knowing when being the faster runner could mean life or death was a good initiative to get in shape.

"You're perfectly fine." Hermione put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder and kissed his cheek.

"I guess so. Unlike Malfoy, who's a stick compared to Harry." Ron said mockingly.

"As someone who used to be a stick himself I take offense to that." Harry responded back. "You try living with Voldemort for a year and spending a month in Azkaban and see how much you weigh afterward." He defended the Slytherins weight.

"I wouldn't say he was a stick, I'd say he was delicate or easily broken." Hermione stated her opinion thoughtfully. She knew it was hard for some body types to gain weight again once they lost it. Since Malfoy was slender in build it would take at least a couple months consuming almost twice the amount of calories to get back to normal. Since Harry always stared at the Slytherin table it caused her to glance there too. From her observations at meal time the Slytherin wasn't doing that at all but eating less than normal.

Harry wasn't sure if she meant that physically or emotionally. Malfoy still hadn't gained back all the weight that he'd lost over the past two years. He thought his mother would have him back to normal before school even started. Even people who didn't like that blonde had the sudden urge to shove food down his throat.

Suddenly the conversation had gotten serious. "I'm tired I think I'm going to go to bed." He said as an excuse to leave.

"The sun's hardly set." Ron complained, but Hermione patted his knee to say that they should leave him be. They watched Harry descend to the dorm room.

…**TBC**

* * *

*It's funny that the spell check kept trying to turn Sytherines into cheerfulness. It made me picture them skipping through the hallways.


	10. Pine

The reason I haven't posted in a while is because I've been visiting my best friend out of town. Sorry for the long wait but I was gone for ten days and then I was busy back at work. I should have had this chapter posted days ago but after I finished editing it in Document Manager I got the spinney wheel of doom because my internet cut out so I lost all my changes so I had to do it all over again.

Someone pointed out in a review that I've been spelling Slytherine wrong. Thanks _IntenselyHonest_ by the way. It took me a little bit to figure out why and it's because I entered it into my Microsoft word dictionary wrong. Spell a word wrong and it comes back to haunt you. Since it was only two letters off it changed the word to Sytherine after I finished typing it but because it isn't that different I didn't catch the word as I read my story over because my mind still read it as Slytherin.

I promise to update soon to make up for the wait.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Pine_

…

Though Draco wished the weekend would never end the school week came anyway. He tried to concentrate on just his classes and ignore everyone around him. Potter joined him in most of the classes they shared. It was totally weird and surreal to have the Golden boy following him around.

It was breakfast on Wednesday morning. All he had to look forward to was charms and Muggle studies.

Draco poured his usual cup of coffee and picked up a chocolate chip muffin. He'd never been much of a breakfast person. He could live on just a cup of coffee if he was allowed but other people said it wasn't healthy; especially his mother. So he'd force himself to at least eat a piece of toast and a few pieces of bacon at most.

He looked around the table in disinterest. Any who were looking at him before pretended they weren't when he caught them. His day wasn't over until he was the subject of gossip.

It was ironic; his housemates were ignoring him, while the rest of the school was pretending they didn't exist or ridiculing them. Slytherin were like second rate students. They were being segregated from the rest of the student populace. It had always been like that every year but it was worse now than ever; since the war. Once you were sorted into the snake house; the only people you could depend on was your housemates.

Owls started to arrive to deliver the morning mail. In first year the sight used to be amazing but now he just found it boring after 7 years of it every day.

Draco was confused when a ministry owl arrived in front of him. That definitely wasn't what he was expecting, at the most a letter from his mother. 'Did he do something wrong?' He asked himself. Tepidly he untied the package from the owl's leg. It was a long thin box that had a note tied to it. Untying the string he opened the note to see what this was about.

Draco Lucius Malfoy,

It was over looked when you were put on house arrest to issue the required item. In here is a Ministry grade wand that you can use for the duration of your parole.

-Mafalda Hopkirk

Draco's eyes widened when he realized what this was about. "What's a ministry grade wand?" He asked the auror.

"It's one that's only able to perform standard spells. You aren't able to perform any harmful curses or charms." Garrott explained disinterested since he was more interested in his food.

"So like, I can't cast any of the unforgivable?" Draco asked curios about it.

"Nothing harmful." Garrott answered while pouring himself some more coffee.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Draco said out loud. He unwrapped the brown paper; it revealed a wand box that had the ministry seal on it. He opened the top with enthusiasm. When he had the wand in his hand he only felt a tiny spark. It was nothing compared to when his own Unicorn hair was returned.

"It doesn't seem very strong." Draco said referring to what he could sense, examining the pale wood. He'd never seen a wand that looked like it before.

"Scratch that, you can't even cast Expelliarmus with it. It's not even strong enough for most spells you used in school so far." Garrott looked over at his charge.

"But Expelliarmus is the standard spell everyone uses to protect themselves. We learned it in second year." Draco exclaimed in shock. "What is it good for then?" He asked looking at the wand in dissatisfaction.

Garrott tried to swallow the food in his mouth before answering. "Cleaning."

Draco gave the auror an incredulous look. "Yeah, like I'm going to need it for that with all the house elf's picking up after me at school and the manor." Draco said in annoyance. "What's it made from anyway?" He asked.

"Well the cores Kneazle whisker and…" Garrott was cut off.

"Kneazle whisker!" Draco said in a tone like he was personally offended. "They stopped using that for wand cores years ago because it wasn't strong enough to perform a lot of spells. What wood did they use?"

"They use pine." Garrott shrugged as he picked through the food choices and filled his plate.

"Pine?" Draco said in disbelief. "You don't use pine to make wands. The wood doesn't conduct magic very well." He stated.

"That's the whole point." Garrott explained and looked pointedly at his charge. "They don't want people like you causing trouble."

"What do they use, recycled Christmas trees to make them?" Draco asked rhetorically not expecting an answer but the auror nodded. He seethed in silence, instead of making him feel better the ministry wand made him feel worse. Hadn't he suffered enough humiliation.

'At least it was something' Draco thought trying to look at the positive side of the situation. It was more than he had before. He picked at his muffin distractedly, not even taking a bit before he had to go to classes.

…

Hermione nudged Harry shoulder and then pointed at the Slytherin table.

He smiled when he saw the ministry owl that had landed in front of Malfoy. Harry thought that happened really quickly considering it took a little less than one week for it to arrive. He'd have to ask the Slytherin how it was working later once he had a chance to try it out.

…

They had charms first thing after breakfast.

"Today we will be reviewing some simple spells that may come in use. I will be handing out a list of some charms that are surprisingly used almost every day at a lot of jobs." Flitwick informed the class. The professor placed piles of paper on each front desk and said to "Take one and pass it back."

Since Malfoy always sat in the back row they were the last to receive the assignment.

'This is perfect." Draco thought to himself. He decided to try and use his ministry wand to see what it was actually capable of.

Originally he tried what he knew to be a more complicated spell but he had little success. It disappointed him that it wasn't even strong enough to perform that. Next he tried a Lumus spell which kind of worked except the light wasn't that strong. He tried a couple more with the same disappointing results.

Potter wasn't paying any attention to his struggle because he and Weasley were playing around with the origami charm that the ministry used for delivering messages; using the paper planes to send messages to each other and trying to steer them into each other's heads.

Scanning the list he picked a simple unbreakable spell, casting it on his ink well. For the true test that it worked he dropped it on the floor. Instead of staying intact it broke into a million pieces and sprayed ink all over his pant leg.

The loud noise of shattering glass gained the whole classes attention. Potter's paper plane dropped from the air as he looked at him in confusion. "It slipped" he mumbled as an excuse.

Grumbling he cast a Scouring Charm on his pant leg that made the ink disappear like it was never there. 'It truly was only good for cleaning spells.'

…

After classes Draco ended up studying in the library with only his auror for company when someone else joined him at his table. He looked up expecting to meet Potter's green eyes but instead he met feminine hazel eyes. "Granger?" He exclaimed surprised.

"Hi Malfoy, I was thinking that since we both have Arithmacy maybe we could go over the homework together." Granger suggested and looked at him expectantly.

There as a long pause before anyone spoke.

"Umm, I guess so." Draco responded unsure of himself. Was she trying to befriend him? Only having a couple people actually talking to him right now he didn't think this was a bad thing. It would be nice to have someone to have an intelligent conversation with.

Draco put his Defense essay aside and took out his Arithmacy homework. He could see Garrott shooting Granger daggers out of his eyes. What was his problem? He decided to just ignore the auror. If he wanted to study with Granger he would. "I think we should switch and then give our opinions." The girl nodded and slid her paper over.

Hermione ignored the auror as she contently went over that week's homework with the Slytherin. She never would've admitted years previous that Malfoy was her only true equal in academics. He was always second best to her. She had a feeling that if the boy had concentrated more on his studies and less on making Harry's life miserable before; that he could have surpassed her.

…

On Friday evening after dinner Harry decided to find Malfoy. It'd been two days since he got the wand so he must've used it by now. Looking at the Marauders map he found that the Slytherin was in the library. He'd noticed that since the beginning of term that the blond had been spending most of his free time there. He never remembered Malfoy being there that often in years past.

Walking into the library he didn't have to look very hard to find him. He spotted the blond at a table by the windows. Harry slid into a seat beside the blond surprising him so much that he ended up knocking over his ink pot.

Malfoy groaned in annoyance, using his wand to clean it up. 'Ink wasn't his friend this week' he thought to himself.

Garrott glared at the Golden boy's appearance but tried to ignore him.

"How's the wand treating you?" Harry pretended to be asking because he used it in front of him, trying to get the blond to tell him about it without having to push too hard.

"Yeah swell." Draco exclaimed UN-enthusiastically as he tried to dig another ink pot out of the bottom of his bag.

"You're welcome." Harry said. "I realized that you didn't have one, so I requested Kingsley to ask if they could send you it."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "You're the reason why I have this thing?" He held up the pine wand for his observation.

"Yep." Harry nodded proudly. He had to dodge when the wand was thrown at his head. "What was that for?" he asked wide eyed. He could hear the auror laughing at him

"That thing is useless. I can hardly cast a Wingardium Leviosa with it." Draco responded irately. Standing up from the table and marching into one of the aisles.

Harry stood and fetched the wand before dashing after the Sytherine. He found him scanning the shelves for a book. He realized that the blond was pretending to ignore his presence. "I know it's not that strong." At the blondes annoyed look he added on. "At all, but you need it to keep up your magical strength." Harry tried to explain.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked curiously. Suddenly interested in what he had to say.

"Think about it. This year we're hardly taking classes that we need wands for. With Potions and Muggle Studies it involves no use of magic at all, McGonagall's having us focus on theory; the only class we really use magic in is Charms class." Harry struggled to get his point across.

"That matters why?" Draco crossed his arms.

Harry sighed. "Hermione's actually the one who explained this to me but I'll try. If you don't keep up using magic regularly after your 18th birthday, it'll start becoming weaker and harder to use. That's why they make it so that wizards come to age at that age."

Draco frowned and looked down. "Granger really believes that?" He asked, looked back up questionably at the Gryffindor.

Harry walked over to where the wand had landed. Picking it up he could feel how little magic the wand was actually capable of. Pine really isn't a good magic conductor. "She really does." He handed the wand back to the blond.

"So I should cast as many cleaning spells as I possibly can." Draco said rhetorically. As he slid the book he'd been looking for off the shelf.

"I would if I was in your position." Harry shrugged looking at the wand between them.

…**TBC**


	11. Fan Mail

Here's another chapter just a day after the last one to make up for the long wait between chapters. I'm going to try and read through all the chapters and find all the Slytherins today. It's the long weekend so I'll actually have time to do that.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Fan Mail_

…

It was breakfast on Saturday morning and everyone was receiving their mail. While watching his classmates receive packages and letters from their loved ones it made him realize Harry hadn't received one piece of mail this semester.

Harry didn't have very many loved ones outside the school since the war but he still found it strange. Not one letter from Mrs. Weasley bugging him to eat more to keep his health up. He hadn't received one from George which he found more puzzling. During the summer he'd been the support system for him to get over the death of his twin. He was sure the man would write him when he was feeling down.

Harry thought of the time that Dumbledor and Dobby had withheld his mail for his own protection.

He made his way to the teacher's table since something nagging his mind. "McGonagall?" He said to gain her attention from the conversation she'd been having with Snape. The witch turned her spectacled eyes towards him to show he had her attention. "I was wondering if there's a chance if you've been with holding my mail?"

"Oh dear, yes, I must've forgot to inform you." McGonagall replied sheepishly. She'd been really busy running the school and teaching transfiguration at the same time. "You were receiving so much fan-mail we couldn't just let all the letter's be delivered to the great hall. It would be a disaster every meal."

"Why couldn't you just keep the fan mail and send my normal mail through?" Harry asked, trying not to get annoyed with the women. Knowing how much was on her plate.

"Your normal mail got mixed in and none of us have the time to go through all of it to find out which is which." McGonagall replied.

"Can I see them? I was expecting some letters and would like to reply as soon as possible." Harry asked the head mistress.

"I'm sorry dear, I don't have them." McGonagall replied. "I sent them to be checked for curses. You never know if people's intentions are good or bad." She shrugged.

"Who does then?" Harry asked.

"I do." Snape replied. He'd been listening in on the whole conversation since his had been cut so rudely short by the boy.

'Of course they were' Harry thought to himself. Who else but Snape would be given the job? "Have you checked them all yet?"

"No. It's hard to though since more keeps arriving daily. You can have what I have checked though." Snape stood up and made his way around the table to leave. "It's in my office. If you'd just follow me. I have to meet my god son for tea there any way."

Harry followed the potions master with a nod.

'Godson?' Harry thought questionably. He heard the man mention that he'd had one but he'd never mentioned the boy's actual name to him. The first time it was mentioned was when the man asked to borrow Hedwig to write to them over the summer. He was curious to know who it was. He was surprised they were at Hogwarts. No student stood out too much in his mind that he acted different around.

They descended into the dungeons.

When Snape opened the door to his quarters, he peaked around the man's form and saw Malfoy was sitting there by the fire. He felt stupid for not realizing it before. All the times when he thought the potion master was favoring the Slytherin git; all made sense to him now.

"You're late." Malfoy informed Snape without even looking up as he sipped at his tea very comfortable in his surroundings; like these were his quarters. The blond hadn't looked towards the door yet so he was unaware of Harry's presence.

"Sorry, I started a conversation with the head mistress that took longer than I thought before another issue came up." Snape apologized.

"Try to show up on time to your own meeting." Malfoy replied with a smirk on his face. Harry had a feeling that the boy was teasing the man.

"I'll try not to." Snape replied as if he was humoring the boy.

"Get out." Snape commanded the auror who was sitting in the other chair in front of the mantle. Harry was surprised the auror didn't argue but just got up disgruntled and slammed the door on the way out.

"Wow." Harry said, impressed with the way Snape had just ordered the auror out of his presence. He didn't think there was any way to separate the auror from the Slytherin side. Malfoy's eyes snapped up to meet his in surprised.

"Potter? What's Potter doing here?" Draco asked his godfather.

"He's just here to pick up his mail." Snape replied without explaining further. Walking past the boy's position so Malfoy had to strain to see what he was doing from his high back chair.

"Huh?" Draco responded confused. When he received no further response from his god father he turned to Potter for an answer.

Seeing Malfoy's questionable expression he answered. "Snape was put in charge of checking my mail for curses."

"Fan mail?" Draco asked and received a nod in confirmation. Being a big war hero and all, he'd been surprised when he didn't see Potter swamped with fan mail once the whole semester yet. His question had been answered now.

Snape marched further into his office till he reached a cupboard in the very back. Opening the doors, Harry could see from his position inside were two very large sacks. The potion master dragged the larger one towards the table and dumped the contents onto the surface.

Harry's eyes widened in shock. He could see Malfoy move the tea pot out of the way to make more room. Sitting down in the free wing back chair to stare at the pile in wonder. All of that mail was meant for him.

"I've only cast the spells to check to make sure that none of them had any dark curses on them, so you'll have to sort through for any letters from the Wesley's by hand." Snape explained before turning to his godson. "I'm sorry Draco but a teacher's meeting has been called suddenly so I won't be able to take tea with you today." Snape addressed his godson.

"Oh." Malfoy said with a disappointed tone in his voice.

"We'll have to reschedule. How about tomorrow, same time?" Snape asked as he made to leave though the door. Since it was still the weekend.

"Ok, but when you leave, do you think you could use the floo? As long as Garrott thinks you're in here he won't come in." Draco requested. "I don't feel like having his company right now."

"Sure." Snape agreed. Making his way towards the mantle. Having to step over the mail that had over flowed onto the floor.

"How am I to even go through this? It's built up to such a large amount now. It would have been easier if it was just left to come normally." Harry said to himself. Pulling at his hair in frustration, not messing it up.

"You should be glad that McGonagall did ask me too because quite a few reacted to the charm and I had to destroy them. Don't worry, the piles safe now." Snape responded before throwing the floo powder into the fire place and leaving through the green flames.

"How come Snape kicked the auror out? I thought the guy wasn't supposed to leave you alone for a second." Harry asked the Sytherine.

"Severus pointed out that I'm safe in a room with no windows and that he could wait outside. There's no point for him to be able to listen in on our private conversations." Malfoy replied as he sipped at his tea.

"Isn't that against regulation?" Harry asked.

"I think Garrott's scared enough to make an exception." Malfoy replied. "He'd be crazy not to fear Severus."

Harry looked from the giant pile of letters and packages to the blond. "Hey do you want to sort through this with me?" He asked imploringly.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes over the rim of his tea cup. "It depends, what's in it for me?" He asked like a true Slytherin.

Harry thought for a second. What could make the blond help him? Thinking about what he usually received an idea came to him. "You can keep anything that you want." He offered.

"I want all the chocolate?" Draco asked, eyeing a box of chocolate frogs that was unwrapped sitting on top. Since he had nothing else to do and he could get free chocolate out of it; he was definitely leaning towards accepting.

"Any that you can find." Harry readily replied. Just glad he wouldn't have to go through the whole thing by himself.

"Done." Draco agreed and put his hand out to shake on it. When Potter accepted his hand he felt like something that should have happened a long time ago had finally been accomplished.

"I guess we should start." Harry suggested. Looking at the pile he picking an innocent looking one towards the very top. It was a light blue with a flower on the front. Flipping the card open, something fell out. Curious what it could be he picked up the item?

He almost choked on his own spit when he saw what was on it. Dropping it in shock.

"What?" Draco asked from where he'd just finished reading a child's letter to her hero. This might be more boring than he thought.

Harry had to take a deep breath before answering. "Naked picture" He gasped out.

"What, really? Let me see." Draco dashed out of his chair and snatched up the picture from the ground before Potter could stop him. It was a moving wizard photograph. In the picture was a Blond witch in her late twenties that had a very large bust in just her underwear and was adjusting her boobs. The Sytherine snatched the card from his hand.

Reading the caption inside the card. "Apparently Lisa, wants a one night stand with you." Draco informed the boy who lived gleefully. Potter covered his face with his hands to hide his blush, groaning in mortification.

Draco started to laugh at the other boy's expense. Now this could be entertaining.

.

When Snape returned two hours later he was met by two laughing boys. He was surprised to see his godson on the verge of rolling on the ground he found something so funny. They had managed to make a mess of his living quarters. There was paper everywhere. "What is going on here?" He demanded to announce his presence.

"Just going through Potter's fan mail." Draco answered while trying to hold in a laugh.

Snape raised an eye brow when he noticed the one large pile he left, had turned into many smaller ones. "What are you doing?" He asked gesturing to all the piles around his living quarters.

"See we started putting them in piles depending on the subject matter; this one's marriage proposals, then this one's proposals for him to be their boyfriend, or sex" Draco whispered before continuing. "Poems, letters from the minister begging for support, invitations to parties, kids hero worship, and letters from the Weasleys." Draco explained pointed at each pile. Potter blushed at some of the categories when they were mentioned.

"What about those ones?" Snape pointed to the piles of packages beside his god son's chair.

"That's my reward for helping." Draco responded pointing at the pile with the better stuff, and then the smaller one. "And that's what I'm leaving Potter with."

Snape noticed that all the chocolate was in his godson's pile. At least the boy had his own nefarious reason for helping the Gryffindor. He didn't know how he'd feel if his god son did it out of the good of his own heart.

"You've left your auror in the hallway for a good block of time. It's coming up on lunch already. I think it's time you leave my chambers." Snape suggested. He needed to mark some essays and he needed quite for that. "And take your fan mail with you." He addressed Potter.

Now that it was mentioned Draco's stomach made its hunger known. "I guess you're right." He stood from his chair and went to gather his pile of treats into a sack he transfigured from a hat he had in the bottom of his school bag. Surprisingly he could use the wand o transfigure small things.

Harry took the Weasleys letters and put them in his robe pocket. He turned and looked at the other piles in contemplation. He wasn't sure what to do with the rest of it. He'd feel bad if he just got rid of the children's letters.

"I guess I'll just keep the children letters and burn the rest." Harry exclaimed.

"You can't burn the marriage proposals." Malfoy looked horrified at the mere suggestion.

"Why not? It's not like I'm going to pick a wife out of them." Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because they are dam funny." Malfoy explained with a laugh. "If you don't want them, can I at least have them?"

"I guess so. Why would you want to though?" Harry asked, surprised that the blond wanted to keep something written by strangers.

"I already said I thought they were funny. Whenever I feel down I'll take them out and have a laugh at your expense." Malfoy responded mockingly. Picking up the two piles and adding them to his sack.

Harry was glad to see that Malfoy wasn't completely gone. He was still able to enjoy his pain.

Draco opened the door.

The auror had managed to fall asleep in the hall waiting for his charge. Malfoy snapped his fingers near the man's face to wake him up. "Huh." Garrott said as he opened his eyes.

"Come on, it's time for lunch." Draco explained to his auror, indicating that he should stand up. When the man got to his feet. "Here, carry this." He handed the heavy sack over to the strong auror.

Draco turned back to his godfather and he slipped something into the pocket of his robe. "My present, to you."

"How generous." Snape sneered as he leaned against the door frame to his class room.

Draco smirked to himself as they made their way to lunch.

"Did you really just give him what I think you did?" Potter asked.

"Yep." Draco answered proudly.

.

Snape closed the door and made his way towards his desk to start marking. Sitting down he took out a pen. He had to give into his curiosity before he started. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out what his god son had slipped in there.

Snape raised an eyebrow at the content of the photo. The naked witch winked up at him. Rolling his eyes at the boys screwed up humor.

He opened his desk drawer and placed it in there and then went to mark his first year's papers. Using lots of red ink.

…**TBC**


	12. Scars

I actually had this ready to post days ago but my mom cut off our internet because someone hacked in and used 60 GB of downloading in one night. Spent all day yesterday changing all the passwords on the wireless. I thought I was going to have to trek out to a Starbucks to post this but luckily our internet turned over today.

I didn't think this chapter was long enough so I thought up a random event that actually gave me an idea for something else so the next chapter I planned to post has been push back. I'm still in the writing process of that one but it should be up soon. Just been trying lately to fill in the blanks in the story and make it seem like more time had passed between chapters. I also wanted to include Ginny more so that's what I did in this chapter.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Scars_

**…**

Harry sighed as he exited his Wizard culture class alone. It was one of the only classes he wasn't taking with Ron. It was because Ron was a pure blood raised in the wizarding world while he was raised in the muggle so they had to take the corresponding course. Hermione had stayed behind to talk to the teacher and demand an extra assignment so he was left walking alone. Everyone else had already left to escape as soon as possible though he'd waited behind for Hermione who waved him off when it was taking a while, saying 'To go on without her.'

Today they learned about high society, meaning the families that had lots of money. He didn't understand why pure bloods were so proud about being a part of that. There were just too many rules. It seemed like it was either you can't do this or you had to do that. To him it sounded like a miserable existence.

Their teacher had let them out early so it was easy to maneuver through the practically empty halls.

Suddenly a door opened further down the hall. He guessed his quite contemplation time was soon to be over. When he saw that it was a class of first years he groaned. Harry could already hear the whispers, "Isn't that Harry Potter?"

Harry tried to speed walk past them before they could ask him anything but it seemed it was too late.

"Can I have an autograph?" A small boy with hair similar to Malfoy's in colour asked him though it was nowhere near as white; fully prepared with a head shot of him and a pen. Muggle born then he thought to himself.

He stopped briefly to say "I'm in a hurry; don't want to be late for Defence." As he turned to leave he could hear some of them squeal in excitement about he was going to cast spells. Harry had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at that statement. They were at a school to learn magic of course he was going to cast spells.

He could hear tiny feet following him. Peeking over his shoulder he could see a group of kids had continued in the same direction as him. He could just be imagining them following him if it was for all the pointing and whispering in his general direction.

This wasn't the first time this had happened since term started. It didn't seem to matter to people who actually knew him that he was a big war hero but to people who didn't, he was this big mysterious entity that was all powerful. Between classes Harry had to dodge younger students left and right since he never really interacted with them.

Harry decided to pick up his speed hoping to lose them. He turned down a random hall that was rarely used hoping to shake them off. They continued to follow him so he dashed quickly when he turned a corner so that they'd be left in his dust.

When he reached the end of the hall with the first years not in sight he sighed in relief until he looked up and met the eyes of Ginny Weasley who had been on her way to her own class. He turned around and went right back the way he came. He'd rather take his chance with the star struck first years' he thought to himself.

Ginny narrowed her eyes when she saw Harry turn around when he caught sight of her. "Harry" She called; when he just kept walking she huffed in annoyance as she took off after him. She wasn't going to allow him to avoid her any more. "Harry Potter! I need to talk to you." It had been awkward between them all summer while they were both living under the same roof. Ginny had only brought up getting back together once at the very beginning but when he said he wasn't ready yet she respected that and backed off. It was what he promised her after all when he broke up with her so she had to at least ask once.

Since they got back to school he hadn't said hardly one word to her except "This seat is taken", only to have Malfoy to be the one who showed up to claim it. When did they even become best pals? It was beginning to look like they were never getting back together. Ginny Weasley wasn't stupid and she could read the signs loud and clear. She just wanted to know what was going on in his head. If Harry didn't like her anymore 'fine' she thought in exasperation. She had to know soon so she could start moving on.

Harry speed walked away as to not look suspicious to the female. Hopefully she'd think he just didn't hear her calling. When he turned the corner he ran smack dab into the children. More of then had picture out than before.

Many of the first years scattered at the sight of the enraged red head girl behind him. 'Smart kids' he thought to himself. A hand spun him around and pinned him to the wall. Ginny was pretty strong for a girl he noticed.

"Harry, I think we need to have a talk." Ginny said.

"We can't, I have to go to class." Harry said readily to get away. He took a step to leave but she pushed him into the wall again.

"I know dumbass, we are in the same class. Remember or you too distracted by Malfoy's illustrious presence to notice anything else." Ginny tried not to snap too harshly. She took a breath to calm down and spoke more calmly "I want to arrange to talk to you."

"When?" Harry asked nervously.

"Tonight, the common room. Just after dinner." Ginny instructed him and he nodded in understanding. She let him go and stalked off.

Harry sighed in relief; she was almost as scary as Mrs. Weasley when she was angry.

Looking up he was surprised to see the blonde kid from earlier still there though he shouldn't have been. When the boy held out the picture and quill he didn't deny him his request. Dam that boy was persistent.

.

When Harry arrived at Defence against the Dark arts he stalked up the rows of desks until he reached where Ron and Hermione were sitting at the back row. He collapsed into his seat and let his head hit the surface of his desk with a satisfying thump.

"You alright mate." Ron asked worriedly about his best friend's mental state.

"Your sister just cornered me in the hall way and ripped me a new one." Harry grumbled. Ron patted his back in sympathy knowing how ruthless Weasley women could be when they were miffed at someone.

"What do you expect? You've been avoiding her for months and putting off that talk you know that has to happen." Hermione admonished him. Male's actions when it came to relationships completely baffled her. She'd tried to read up on it but there was just too much difference of opinion between the sexes.

"I know." Harry sighed in exasperation. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for this relationship business."

"I don't want to get stuck between a rock and a hard place, since you're my best friend and she's my sister, but Harry, you got to end it now before I have to kill you for leading my sister on."" Ron spoke to his friend seriously.

"Why do you run in the other direction when you see her anyway?" Hermione asked. "I think she's already figured out that whatever was between you has ended; now she just wants to hear it from you."

"We already organized a time to talk it out." Harry informed them.

"Finally." Ron sighed in relief. He was sick and tired of the tension that happened when his sister and best friend were in the same room. Now he could concentrate on much more important things. "Hermione can you read over my potions essay?" Ron asked his girlfriend while digging through his bag.

"Fine, but I hope you don't expect me to fill in the blanks." Hermione accepted the parchment from her boyfriend, who lent over to kiss her on the cheek in thanks.

"Wait, what essay?" Harry asked in dread, turning to look at his friends.

"You mean to say that you haven't even started it?" Hermione looked at him in horror.

"Oh, Snape is going to kill you." Ron commented.

"I'm sure I can quickly write one up." Harry knew there was an all nighter in his near future.

"Harry, its due tomorrow morning." Hermione informed him.

Harry groaned and let his head fall and hit the desk once more.

"Do you need my help?" She asked imploringly. Her being who she was she finished hers the day it was assigned so she had nothing to worry about herself.

"Hey, how come you're going to write his essay for him yet I'm left struggling, shouldn't being your boyfriend give me more privileges." Ron complained with a frown on his face and his arms crossed across his chest.

"Do you want Harry to live to see Wednesday?" Hermione asked, then when the read he nodded she said "Then hush." Hermione smacked her boyfriend's arm with his own essay.

Harry watched Malfoy enter the class room with his auror not far behind and he got an idea. "No I don't think I'll be needed help from you." He told the brunette female. 'It didn't mean he wasn't going to be getting help from someone else.' He thought.

Malfoy came and sat beside him just in time for class to start. "What?" The blond asked as he noticed the gleeful look the Golden boy was giving him.

"Nothing." Harry replied.

They settled in for class once Kingsley arrived.

…

Draco walked into his room after a long day of school. Throwing his bag by his desk. Glad to have the weight off his shoulder. He should start having his auror carry his bag, then he'd be useful for something at least. Garrott never left him alone for more than five minutes at a time when they were outside their room. You'd think he'd get used to having so little privacy but it still bugged him. Being followed even into the bathroom was seriously beginning to make him crack.

His peers were wary of his presence in their classes. He'd been a death eater after all. Willingly or not it didn't seem to matter. Students from other houses made faces and rude gestures behind his aurors back. It didn't help that his friends were scared away by the man.

Draco felt like he was being watched. "Potter?" He asked the air. Hearing a rustle come from behind him he turned on his heel to see the boy who lived, appear like from nothing in the corner of the room.

"How'd you know I was here?" Harry asked surprised. He was impressed that the other boy could sense his presence.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I could feel your eyes bearing into my back. What are you doing here anyway?"

Potter gave a sheepish look and Draco raised an eyebrow in question. The Gryffindor reached into his bag and pulled out his potion textbook and gave the blond a hopeful look. "I was wondering if you'd help me with that essay Snape assigned last week?"

"Seriously? You sneak in here after curfew for that. Why didn't you just ask when we were in the library yesterday or something?" Draco asked incredibly.

"I forgot about it till Ron mentioned he was short a foot today. I haven't even started and it's due tomorrow." Harry explained. "Come on, you are the best at potions, it'll be easy for you." He begged.

Draco huffed. "Not according to Slughorn."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.

"He thought the sun shined out of your ass when it came to potions." Draco said in frustration, thinking about how the old fool had fawned over the Gryffindor all semester. "What happened with that anyways? You were so good at potions in sixth year, and now you are back to your old ways." He asked confused.

"Well, the truth is that I kind of cheated." Harry rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"How can you cheat at potions?" Draco asked aghast, sitting down on his bed. The only way he could think is if you handed in a different sample at the end of class. He'd seen Potter brew his potions though and they always looked right so that couldn't be it.

"Well, you know how Ron and I weren't expecting to take Potions that year because we didn't get a high enough owl level for Snape's standards." Harry started to tell the Sytherine.

"And then Severus got bumped up to Defense teacher. Slughorn had lower expectation of his students and let all the rif raf in." Draco nodded; understanding that he originally wasn't taking potions at all.

"We never bought any supplies so we had no text books. I ended up with a ratty old copy from the potions cupboard. When I first opened it and saw that someone had scribbled all over it I thought that it was just defaced. Until I started looking closer and realized that the person had revised the instructions with things they thought worked better and scribbled spells into the margins." Harry explained.

"Those revisions really worked miracles then, because you suck at potions and they made you look like an ace at it." Draco commented dryly.

"That they did." Harry agreed, not denying his horrible potion skills, as he sat at the edge of the bed beside the blond.

"Did you ever find out who's it used to be? Draco asked as he peeked through his eye lashes at the other boy.

"Actually I did." Harry revealed. Malfoy looked at him expectantly. "Actually it was Snape's old school text book."

"Really, does he know you had it?" Draco asked as he sat up on his elbows, more interested in the conversation now it evolved his godfather.

"He did find out but it wasn't on purpose." Harry admitted darkly.

Draco nudged Potter in the side when he didn't continue further. "Well, how'd he find out you had it?" He asked insistently.

"Snape figured out I had it because the spell I used on you in Myrtle's bathroom was one he created and only ever wrote down in that book. That's how he knew how to heal you." Harry confessed, suddenly feeling extremely guilty about the incident even though it was years ago. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't even know what the spell did. It just said for enemies, and when you were going to cast Crusio on me, I panicked. Can you forgive me?" He asked desperately.

Draco was surprised to have that confrontation suddenly brought up it seemingly out of nowhere. It felt like the times when he and Potter were always at each other's throats were another life time ago. "If I hadn't forgiven you, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. You've forgiven me for all the shit I pulled, so why can't I grant you that one thing."

Harry was relieved when he heard that. Suddenly in that moment his new friendship with Malfoy seemed so important to him and he didn't want to lose it. It was so fragile at this stage and it could easily be broken.

They lied together in silence it was broken when Harry asked a question. "I always wondered, did the Sercumsentra leave any scars?"

Instead of answering Malfoy started to Loosening his tie to lift it over his head and undo the buttons on his dress shirt. His pale chest was revealed to Harry.

Harry's eyes widened when he saw the thin lines going across his pectorals. "Fuck." Harry exclaimed in mortification that he'd marked the Sytherine like that for the rest of his life.

"You have your scar and I have mine." Malfoy shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"I think that it's a big deal." Harry said with wide eyes, expressing his feelings.

"It's just skin, and it really isn't a bad scar considering others that I've seen. It's covered all the time anyway. Not like the scars on my face or anything." Malfoy exclaimed with a smirk falling on his lips after.

Harry knew that was a jab at him. It broke the tension and he let off a small chuckle. Malfoy's smirk turned into an actual smile. When Harry calmed down he realized that he was sitting on a bed with a boy who was half naked now in his eyes. He blushed as he couldn't help peeking at the chest through the gabbing shirt.

"So what did you do with Severus's text book? You obviously don't have it any more." Draco asked curiously.

"Obviously." Harry said sarcastically. He was surprised the blond could just throw their earlier conversation off. "I actually threw it in the room of hidden things. After I cast that spell on you, Snape asked me to show him my text book and I threw it in there in my panic." Harry admitted. "I wonder if it was destroyed or not. Do you want to go see?"

"I don't think I'm ready to go back to that room just yet." Draco admitted; thinking about his struggle with the vanishing cabinet and the fiendfyre. It didn't hold good memories. "Besides, if I'm found gone by Garrott when he comes to check on me I'll get a warning and I don't want to risk that."

"You're right." Harry could hear the sadness in the Slytherin's voice. It made him regret suggesting they go to the room of requirement. He should really think before he spoke. Why'd Malfoy want to go to a place one of his friends died?

"Do you ever find yourself afraid of fire irrationally now?" Malfoy asked curiously. Potter had been in that room with him when the magical fire started so he went through a similar experience.

"Don't you think we've had enough deep conversation for one day? I don't think I can handle any more, we can talk about the war another time." Harry rubbed his temples feeling a head ache coming on. He knew if he hang out with the Slytherin that their past would be brought up eventually and they'd have to talk about it but it was too soon. "Right now I need you to help me with this essay, so that Snape doesn't rip my head off tomorrow."

"Fine, but you owe me." Draco said as he rolled off the bed and made his way towards his work desk. Harry'd lost count how many times Hermione had said that exact sentence to him. Hermione and Malfoy were more alike than they would ever realize.

"Well, are you coming or do you expect me to write the whole thing myself?" Malfoy asked with his hands on his hips tapping his foot.

Harry observed the blond whose hair was messed up and his shirt was still open. It looked more like he was waiting for him for something a lot less innocent than homework. "I will, when you do your shirt up, it's distracting."

Draco looked down to observe his appearance. His cheeks inflamed in embarrassment. He couldn't believe he forgot he'd undone his shirt to show his scar. His fingers fumbled as he did up the buttons back up. "I'm presentable now."

"Let's get to work then." Harry suggested as he rolled off the bed.

…

Ginny scanned the Gryffindor common room for a head of messy hair black. She didn't see him anywhere. "Hey, have you seen Harry around?" She asked some younger students who were sitting by the fire.

"Potter left a while ago." One of them answered.

"Do you know when he's going to be back?" She received a shrug in answer. Ginny sighed and sat on the couch. She guessed she was in for a wait. When her brother and Hermione arrived without Harry she realized that she'd been stood up.

…**TBC**


	13. Tutor

I wrote most of this almost a week ago but since then I've been trying to perfect it. It just doesn't seem good enough yet in my opinion but if I keep thinking that I'll never end up posting it and I'll be holding up the story. So it is what it is. I was mostly working off instinct. Now I just need to write the next chapter and try to write a smooth transition into the next chapter that I wrote months ago.

I actually wrote that paragraph five days ago. That's how long it's been sitting in my doc manager.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Tutor_

**…**

Harry slid into breakfast after almost everyone else had arrived. He'd slept in that morning because he'd stayed up half the night writing that potion essay with Malfoy. Spotting his friends he walked along the length of the table before sitting beside them.

They all turned their attention to him.

"Well look who finally decided to show up." Ron huffed as he turned his attention from food to him. "I tried to wake you up this morning but you didn't budge an inch."

Seamus leaned forward so that he could look around the red head to see him. "Yeah, just be glad I couldn't find a marker or you'd be sporting a mustache right now." Harry subconsciously stroked his up lip and imagined what he'd look like with the facial hair.

"How late did you stay up?" Hermione asked looking up from her book; she'd finished eating a long time ago. She wondered how late Harry had been allowed to stay in the library.

"An un-godly hour." Harry replied as he quickly loaded up his plate before it disappeared on him. It was getting close to class time. He quickly started to eat but he stopped mid chew when he caught sight of Ginny out of the corner of his eye. She was giving him a death glare. He swallowed and asked himself in dread. "What'd I do now?"

"Forget about something did you?" Hermione looked at him incredulously.

Ron followed his stare. "Almost forgot about that. Someone's in trouble." He said in a sing song voice. At his friend's confused expression, he decided not to keep him hanging. "You were supposed to meet her, last night, in the common room."

"Crap." Harry exclaimed as he took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It had completely slipped his mind not twenty minutes later the agreement he'd made with Ginny. "How mad is she?"

"Apparently she waited a really long time for you to show up last night." Hermione told him. "So, pretty mad."

Ron swallowed his mouth full of food. "Yeah, when I showed up I had to listen to her drag on and on, complaining about you. I'm sure it wasn't just me she talked at either."

"I completely forgot, after Ron told me about the essay my whole mind just focused on it." Harry sighed.

"Did you get you're essay done?" Hermione asked him inquiringly. She was sure that it was going to be a total mess and she was going to have to do a quick fix right before class.

"Yeah." Harry dug into his bag for his essay. He slid the parchment over for her to see.

When Hermione read it over she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. This was too long and much better quality for Harry to have finished it all in one night. Even if he had a month she didn't think it'd be this good. Come to think of it, she'd gone to the library earlier to pick up a book and she'd never saw Harry there. "Who'd you get to help you?" She asked accusingly.

"No one." Harry exclaimed but she could tell he was lying since he possessed all the classic ticks. He was a true Gryffindor and he just didn't possess the ability to bluff like a Slytherin did.

She could see his eyes flicking towards someone. When she turned around to follow his gaze she realized he was starring right at the Slytherin table. There could only be one culprit then since he never really talked to any of them but one. "You had Malfoy write your essay for you." Hermione was confident in her deduction.

Harry stopped his piece of toast half way to his mouth and sighed. "Malfoy didn't right the whole thing for me. He just helped." At her raised eye brow he added "A lot."

"I hate to admit it but he's like some genius at potions." Ron added his input in.

"How come you didn't ask me?" Hermione asked inquiringly. "I even offered."

"I always come to you first when I have any kind of problem. I just figured you'd need a break." Harry shrugged her question off. Truthfully to himself he admitted it might just have been an excuse to seek the blonde's company out.

"I guess if you don't come to me, he should be the one you go to for questions." Hermione had to be glad with the thought that Harry at least picked a competent person to help him out with his ineptitude. "Here's an idea, why don't you have Malfoy tutor you in the subject." Hermione suggested logically.

"Give Malfoy the power to tell me how horrible I am at potions and have him tell me what I'm doing wrong and how I can fix it." Harry exclaimed with a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, giving Malfoy the permission to actually boss Harry around, doesn't sound like such a great idea." Ron commented agreeing with his friend.

"Come on, you know you're starting to like him." Hermione jested.

"As a friend, yes, as an evil over lord enforcing potions, not so much." Harry shook his head. He had a feeling that if he tried to do this that it would unleash the side of the Slytherin that he hated so much before and they might revert back to their old ways with each other. He didn't want that.

"It won't be that bad. I just think that you're over exaggerating and, haven't you already been studying together anyway." Hermione pointed out and Harry nodded in agreement. "You know you need it, either deal with Malfoy's control issues or Snape." She admonished her friend.

"You didn't have to deal with him also correcting your hand writing." Harry gave as proof that it might turn out bad. "I might just snap at him and we'll be back where we were before."

"Yeah, I noticed it was better than usual." Hermione looked back down at the essay to the loops of letters that were tighter than usual. The scrapes of chairs on the floor made her look up. "Come on, we better get to class." Hermione said as she noticed a lot of other students had started to leave. The teacher table was now also empty too.

…

When they got to potions there was a complete difference between the houses behaviors. The Slytherin's all calmly walked up to their head of house's desk and handed their essays in while many Gryffindor's scrambled to add a couple more sentences.

For once Harry wasn't one of the people who had to be worried and that was all thanks to Malfoy. Snape narrowed his eyes when he put his essay on his desk but didn't say anything more. Hermione was right; he should just ask the blonde to tutor him if this is how it felt to not actually have to worry about passing potions.

When he walked back to his desk he was met with a smirking Slytherin and a scowling auror. When he sat down Malfoy lent over to whisper in his ear "You're welcome" in a condescending tone.

"I am forever in your debt." Harry responded back still whispering so that the auror couldn't over hear. It wouldn't be good if Garrott figured out that he was in Malfoy's room last night till about three in the morning without his knowledge.

Snape stood from his desk and began writing on the board which was a clear sign that class was about to begin. He turned to address the class. "This is your assignment for the day. I expect it finished by the end of the class. Begin." The man instructed pointing behind him. It was just the name of a potion with no other instructions to go with it.

A Gryffindor boy raised his hand. "Sir, you didn't write down the page number."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Do you need me to do everything for you? You're eight-teen years old, I'm sure that you can read the index of your potions text book. Get to work." It left many students scrambling to find their way all by themselves.

Harry was glad he got his essay done on time because it seemed like Snape was in a bad mood today. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if he showed up empty handed. "Harsh" he said out loud.

"He just wants us to learn to do things by ourselves. He's not going to baby us anymore now." Malfoy responded to his comment. He placed the open text book in front of him to the correct page already. The Slytherin was way ahead of the rest of the class.

"Still, it was just a question. He could have been nicer about it." Harry stated his opinion.

"Severus doesn't do nice." Draco exclaimed as he copied down the ingredients onto a list that needed to be fetched.

Snape supervised his students with crossed arms by the board and observed how they did when left to their own devices. "You better have your essay on my desk now because I will not be accepting any late assignments. You are all eighth years and considered legal adults outside this school. You should act like it, Finnegan." Snape turned to target the Gryffindor who was trying to slip his essay near the bottom of the pile unnoticed so it'd look like he handed in his assignment earlier.

The Irish boy smile sheepishly and slinked back to his desk where his partner Dean who was still flipping through the text books index.

"There's actually something I want to ask you?" Harry whispered closely into the blonde's ear.

Draco's ear tingled as Potter's hot breath hit it. "And…?" He asked. When Potter's eyes flicked towards his auror he understood that the Gryffindor didn't want to talk about this in front of Garrott. He wondered what it was and he couldn't concentrate until he knew. "Garrott, do you think you could get the ingredients this time?" Draco turned and asked innocently, holding the list he'd just finished writing out to be taken.

"Why can't Potter do it?" Garrott asked suspiciously.

"I need Potter to help me set up." Draco said without a hint in the tone of his voice that he was lying. If there was one thing Harry should learn from the Slytherin it was how to lie he thought to himself.

Garrott contemplated doing it but when his charge smiled at him he took the list reluctantly and marched off. The boy was too good looking for his own good and he knew how to use it.

Draco waited until the auror was out of ear shot before talking. "What is it you wanted to ask?"

"I was wondering if you'd tutor me in potions?" Harry asked nervously. He received Malfoy's signature raised eyebrow that said are you serious. "Don't make me ask again."

Draco smirked knowingly. "I understand why you'd ask for that, you're completely horrible at the subject." He gave the boy a thoughtful look. "I'll only do it if there's something in it for me. How about, if you tutor me in muggle studies in return?"

Harry should've known that even though he was getting along much better with Malfoy he was still a Slytherin through and through. That got him thinking about the other course he was struggling with. "Actually I could use some help with the Wizard Culture class too." He admitted sheepishly.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Then there's nothing in it for me when I have to do twice as much." He sighed and contemplated the offer. He really needed help with muggle studies because it was seriously like a whole new world to him but was it worth the trouble? He'd been drilled on wizard society's rules almost since birth and potions came easily to him. Thinking about what his Godfather had offered him earlier he thought it'd be good to get some teaching experience under his belt.

"Well?" Harry asked.

"Be patient, I'm just trying to figure out how we can do this with Garrott around." Draco huffed. The auror would more than likely not approve of him spending a lot more time with Potter out of class.

Harry realized the blond had a point. Having Garrott glaring at him as he tried to learn the properties of ingredients wasn't going to help. Snape standing over his shoulder and making him nervous was the main reason he was so horrible at the subject. He'd fallen so far behind.

"We're just going to have to make it legit." Draco stated thoughtfully while filling their cauldron with water and lighting the flame under it.

"How do we do that?" Harry asked leaning on the desk and looking at the blonde inquiringly.

"Don't worry. I have it all figured out already, you won't have to lift a finger, just act natural." Draco placated him.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked confused. It was very vague instructions and he was sure he was going to find a way to screw it up.

"I know my godfather, that's what it means" Draco said as he got out his knife set from his bag. When Potter opened his mouth to ask more he shushed him. "Silence, he's coming back."

Harry looked up to see that the blonde was right. The auror was making his way through the rows of desks back to them with his arms full. He tried to look like he'd actually been helping by arranging the knifes so as not to look suspicious, utterly failing he was sure.

Garrott placed the ingredients on the desk in a heap. "There." He said as he retook his seat.

Draco tisked at the mess it left. Once he organized the ingredients in order and counted just to double check, he sighed.

"What?" The auror asked.

"You only got 3 Snake vangs, I need 6." Draco stated.

"It's not my fault that your six's look like threes. I'm not getting up again, get Potter to do it." Garrott stated as he made his point by getting more comfortable in his stool.

"Garrott." Draco said in a tone that said don't argue with me. The auror huffed but still stood up and went to do as he was told. The Slytherin smirked but when he sat back he noticed the look Potter was giving him. "What?"

"I saw what you did there. He brought you the right amount but you pushed some off the table." Harry accused.

Draco shrugged and explained. "I have to get some entertainment out of having the auror around or I'll go crazy."

"You're evil." Harry stated.

"I thought we established that when I was eleven." Draco responded back sarcastically.

"That's not funny." Harry said and received an eye roll from the blonde in response. "I'm serious."

"Humor is how I deal with the past. We best get to work. Start cutting the sloth brain." Draco slid the ingredients towards him and handed him a knife. Potter scrunched up his face in disgust. After that they settled into their usual potion making routine.

.

Snape sat down to read through the essays. He wasn't disappointed in their horrible comparisons and wrong information because he never had high expectations in the first place. When he read Harry Potter at the top of the next parchment he had even lower expectations. As he read over the essay his eye brows raised.

"Potter." Snape spoke disturbing the peace. The boy looked up at him confused from his desk in the back row so he crooked his finger to tell him to come here.

"And the plan is ago." Malfoy stated as he stirred the cauldron the right amount of times.

"Huh." Harry looked back at the Slytherin in confusion.

"Just go." Malfoy instructed Potter. Pushing him on the shoulder to get him to hurry up.

Harry stood up and walked towards the desk at the front of the class room. "Yes?"

"This essay you handed in, what book did you copy it out of?" Snape asked.

Harry scrunched his eyebrows together. "Are you accusing me of cheating?"

"This is way too well written to be all your own handy work." Snape waved the parchment back and forth. He'd be surprised if Miss Granger actually gave the boy this much help since she'd been refusing since first year.

Draco watched from afar. It didn't look like it was going well. Luckily the potion had to simmer for some time. 'He had to get up there' he thought to himself. Pushing his stool back he left the table just managing to dodge the aurors hand that went to grab him to stop him from leaving. He could hear Garrott grumble under his breath as he walked through the rows of desks to the front of the room.

"I had help." Harry admitted.

"Who's?" Snape asked.

"Mine." Malfoy's voice answered from behind him. Harry hadn't heard the Slytherin's footsteps.

"Draco?" Snape looked at his god son surprised. "Do you want to explain?"

Malfoy walked forward and hoisted himself up to sit on the desk. "What is there to explain? Potter is horrible at potions and he's my partner this semester. Just trying to make sure he actually knows some of what he's expected to. I'd rather he not blow up our cauldron as much as possible."

"What are you suggesting?" Severus knew when his god son was trying to steer him in a certain direction.

"If I become Potter's official tutor I can keep him out of your hair." Draco tried not to lay it on too thick.

Snape sat back in his chair. "What's in it for you?" If the boy didn't have some selfish reason to want to do this then he'd be disappointed.

"If tutors get signed off by an actual teacher they get privileges, like use of the Prefects' bathroom. Now that I'm not a Prefect anymore, after years of using that room, I'm beginning to miss it." Draco answered.

Snape rolled his eyes at the lame excuse. "I'll talk to McGonagall about it." Malfoy smirked at the response, sure that his godfather would come through. Severus gathered two essays and pushed them forward to the respective students.

Harry observed that his essay received almost full marks but Malfoy's was still way higher since he only lost two.

"Draco as good as always, and Potter, passed with flying colours for once." Snape sneered at him. The relationship between them had improved extensively but they still tended to fall back into old habits on bad days. Their mutual respect for each other never extended to potions Harry thought.

Draco leant over to whisper in Potter's ears. "If I'm your tutor there's only more of those results to come, but don't expect to get so much help as this time, you're going to have to actually figure some things out yourself." Potter responded back sarcastically and they started to bicker, just like old times.

Snape rolled his eyes at their mutual teasing and tried to get back to marking other students essays. He wanted to have them all handed back by the end of the class so that he'd have his evening free. He had almost blocked out their bickering since it was so normal before he realized something was wrong in this picture. His head snapped up and looked between them. "Wait if you're both here, who's looking after your potion?" He asked.

Draco looked at him shocked for a moment before whipping his head around to stare back to their desk. It was only supposed to simmer for about two minutes and it must've been longer than that by now he thought with panic. This potion was very volatile. Their cauldron was sitting unattended almost bubbling over while Garrott sat nodding off beside it. He slapped his forehead. It did not look good.

"You didn't…" Harry asked. How could Malfoy be so careless to walk away from a brewing potion?

The Slytherine took a couple steps as if he was going to run and fix it. "Draco stop, it's too late for that." Snape knew the signs when a cauldron was ready to blow and this one was only seconds away. As soon as he said that his god son dropped to the ground. He thought the boy had the right idea. "Everyone get down!" Snape warned the class. All the students stopped in surprise and looked at their teacher in question until they heard the whistling sound. Everyone climbed under their desks.

Draco had to tug on Potter's robe to get him to follow his example.

Garrott immediately jumped from his stool ready for action. It sounded to his groggy mind that they were under attack. He took note of his charge ducking for cover at the front of the room. Whipping out his wand and surveying the class room in front of him even though the danger was behind him.

They didn't have to wait long for the fireworks. The cauldron made a loud popping noise as it spewed its contents over the class room.

When the cauldron had settled again Snape stood up from his position on the ground. When he observed his classroom he took note that no students had been hit by the mixture since they'd had enough warning to get sufficient cover, though not everyone was so lucky. He raised an eyebrow at the sight that greeted him.

Students started peeking out from under the desks, to see if it was safe to come out yet.

When Draco stood up his eyes widened at the sight of his screw up. Garrott stood by their back desk completely coated in the potion he'd previously been brewing. It had been a pretty thick potion so the man didn't look just wet but like he had green slime on his robes.

"Class is dismissed for the day." Snape announced as he looked around his ruined class room. "Turn off your cauldrons before you leave and hand in what you've accomplished. I will take note of the short time you had in your mark." Everyone scrambled to do as he said. Samples were dropped off on his desk with names on them. Cauldrons were cleaned and put away but it still didn't make the room look any better because all the desk tops were covered with slime.

Students started to trickle out quickly till it was just the four of them left. As each of them left Snape checked them visually for any traces of the potion they might have brushed against while cleaning up but they all seemed wasn't sure what it would do while at this unfinished stage.

They were making the wide eyed potion that was supposed to be used as an antidote for the drought of living death. Taking a vile from his desk he walked over his god son's cauldron and took a sample. Since the auror had not been put under a death like slumber and it was supposed to be ingested orally only; he wasn't sure what the effect is going to have. He could see a sleepless night in the man's future though.

"Mr. Garrott, I think it wold be best if you got checked out by Madame Pomphey." Snape suggested looking the man up and down.

Garrott tried to wipe off his neck and the side of his face on a clean part of his robe. "But, what about my charge?" The auror responded shooting dark looks at the boy.

Snape looked at his god son in contemplation. "He'll be right here cleaning up his mess, as punishment." He crossed his arms and looked at the boy daring him to try and get out of it. Draco didn't bother arguing with the man since he knew he deserved it for his carelessness. "Take this with you and give it Madam Pomphey." Snape held out the sample he'd taken earlier for the man to take.

Garrott grabbed the vile and gave one last searching look before stalking from the room, leaving sticky footprints in his wake.

Draco decided it was best to just get straight to work without further argument. He took out his ministry wand and prepared to use it for the only thing it was good for. "Alone." Snape stated when Harry went to help him.

Draco snapped his head up to look at his godfather in surprise. "What about Potter?" Usually the man never let a chance pass him by to give the golden boy detention.

"Potter may go. I actually called him to my desk while, you, I did not, though if anyone asks how this incident happened I will claim otherwise." Snape crossed his arms and lent on his desk. "Draco, you're supposed to be staying out of trouble as much as possible this year."

"It was an accident." Draco shrugged.

"Which is even worse. When a potion master gets complacent with his work, like nothing can go wrong, they make mistakes like this. I taught you better than that." Severus said with arms crossed. When he noticed the Gryffindor still standing there he turned to him. "Potter, go, before I change my mind." Snape pointed towards the door.

Harry shrugged at the blond before leaving.

Draco sighed and got to work. Flicking his wand at each desk until they sparkled.

**...TBC**


	14. Sugar Rush

I'm not even sure how I ended up writing this. I just wanted to add more Ginny and it led me astray from my original story line for a bit. After the last chapter I needed to add something before I could go back to my original material and this is what I thought up.

It was kinda fun to write.

Don't worry after the next chapter I'll be back on track. I'm almost finished writing the second part of this.

* * *

**_Golden Protector_**

_Sugar Rush_

**…**

Snape sat back down at his desk and tried to get back to marking the essays. Noticing a glob of red on his desk he flicked his wand in disgust "Scourgify." His quill started flying across the page while he watched hos god son going from desk to desk. "You better hurry. You don't want to miss lunch."

Draco looked at his pocket watch to see what time it was. Severus was right, it was coming up fast on lunch period now. He picked up his speed and started to literally sprint front desk to desk. There were only four more.

He was going so fast that he didn't see the puddle on the ground. When his dress shoes hit the wetness he had no chance to save himself. Draco wasn't expecting the slick floor so he slid a foot before falling on his back with a loud thump, the wetness seeping through his uniform.

Snape jumped up out of his chair when he saw his god son go down so that he could see over his desk. "Are you ok?" Leaning over he saw that the boy had landed in some of the potion. He sighed "You best go to the hospital wing too." He walked around the desk to stand over the fallen Slytherin. "Up."

When Draco tried to push himself up he managed to put his hand in some of it. Snape sighed and gave him a hand up with the boy's clean hand.

When Draco got on his feet it felt like his shirt was sticking to his back so he tugged it away from his body. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the noise it made as it peeled off his skin. "What do you think this stuff is going to do?" He asked worriedly.

"It's a potion that's supposed to cure a deep sleep." Snape said thoughtfully. "You've only got a small amount on you compared to that auror. Hopefully it'll just give you a small energy boost. Let's go." He said as he headed to the door.

Snape walked the boy to the hospital wing just to monitor him. He wanted to make sure the potion didn't have the opposite affect and make him lose consciousness. Judging from how at the beginning of their journey Draco was walking beside him and near the end he was way ahead, he was guessing it had already started to take effect.

…

When Harry exited the dungeons he saw that his friend's had waited for him. He walked over to join them. "I'm surprised you aren't at lunch yet." He greeted them.

"We're too early. The doors aren't open yet." Hermione answered.

"I guess we have some time to kill." Harry sighed as he looked at the closed doors for the great hall.

"That's on great thing about potions, when someone makes a mistake you get let out early." Ron exclaimed happily.

"Wooptido, an extra…" Hermione looked down at her watch, "15 minutes."

"That's 15 minutes we don't have to spend in a dark damp dungeon." Ron said to emphasize his point.

"That's very true." Harry agreed. The dungeon had always been his least favorite part of the castle. It was so cold in the winter it was hard to function. He wasn't sure how the Slytherins could stand to live down there.

"Why don't we go outside and get some fresh air." Ron suggested. Harry thought it sounded like a great idea but he looked at Hermione for confirmation and she just shrugged as if saying 'why not'.

Pushing the large wooden door open they were blinded for a second by the bright sun light. Being in the dark dungeon for so long made it so their eyes had to adjust to light again.

When his eye sight cleared Harry was surprised to see Ginny walking at a breakneck speed towards him across the grounds. He forgot that she had Herbology. "Crap" He exclaimed as he turned on his heel to flee back inside but the red head female ran the last foot and punched him in the arm. "Ah-oh, what'd you do that for?"

"Because you were going to run away from me, again" Ginny exclaimed in annoyance, crossing her arms and tapping a foot. "You were supposed to meet me last night. Where were you?"

"I know. I'm sorry." Harry apologized. "I had to do this essay at the last minute and I completely forgot." He said to placate her.

"You better be sorry. I waited for a really long time." Ginny huffed. "I'm busy tonight but we're going to have that talk tomorrow night. Got it." She instructed him and he nodded in understanding. Her friends caught up with her and she left to go to lunch with them.

Ron patted his shoulder in sympathy. "Ginny's almost as scary as mother" he said to lighten the mood.

"No one's as scary as your mother." Harry responded back.

They sat down for lunch once the doors were open. They were some of the first students to arrive because everyone else was just getting out of class. Harry expected Malfoy to show up late but he was surprised when he didn't show up at all. Maybe he was taking lunch with Snape he thought to himself.

…

When Snape entered the hospital wing he shouldn't have been surprised to see the auror performing jumping jacks in a pair of hospital pajamas. He closed the door behind them with a snap.

He could hear the clicking of the nurse's heels before he could see her. She stopped in surprise when she saw him. "Severus, I haven't finished looking at that potion yet. You should come back after lunch." Madame Pomfrey suggested.

"I will be dropping by to talk about that later, but that's not why I'm here now. I brought you another patient." He stated as he pushed the blond forward for her to see. Careful to not touch any of potion on his jumper.

"Oh dear" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed at the state of the boy. She recognized the red stains on his clothing. "You best change out of that soiled uniform. I'll get you some pajamas." She told him before turning around to go to the store room.

"Why can't I just scourgify it away?" Draco asked.

"It's never a good idea to use a spell on a potion because you never know the reaction they'll have together, especially when a potion is unfinished." Snape explained to the boy.

The nurse returned and handed the blond a set of pale blue top and pants. "Have a shower to wash the potion off your skin then change into these. Wait on one those beds. I have to finish examining Mr. Garrott." Madame Pomfrey told them before walking over to the auror and snapping at him to sit still.

Draco held the garments away from him in disgust. "I hate hospital pajamas. The fabric is always scratchy against my skin."

*Snape rolled his eyes at the boys rich up bringing showing through because his parents had spoiled him. "Stop complaining and go shower." He instructed him. "You're beginning to smell" He said in a teasing tone.

Draco huffed as he stalked over to the shower room and closing the door harshly. He turned the shower on first before changing to get the water to the right temperature. Undoing his tie, he draped it a chair that was in the small bathroom. It was one of the only things that hadn't been covered with any of the potion. Stripping of the rest of the clothes he kicked them into a corner.

Stepping under the warm water he sighed in relief. When he ran his hand through his hair he was surprised to feel stickiness. He really had gotten the potion everywhere. Using shampoo he tried to wash it out.

Hopefully he washed the stuff off fast enough so that it wouldn't have a large effect on him.

Once he thought he was clean enough Draco dried off with one of the towels that were provided. He put the pajamas on reluctantly. They were hanging off his small frame.

He debated putting his shoes back on but they were too covered. The house elves would take care of his clothes. Grabbing just his tie he left. Opening the door his bare feet patted on the cold stone floor as he walked to the bed that Severus had taken a seat by.

…

Harry started tapping his foot in impatience under the desk. Malfoy hadn't come to lunch and he hadn't arrived for defense class yet either. Usually he got there with plenty of time to spare but class was minutes away from starting.

"Stop fidgeting." Hermione reprimanded him.

"Sorry." Harry apologized and sat up straighter. He looked expectantly at the door. It made him feel antsy when he didn't see the Slytherin when he was supposed to.

When Ginny sat down beside him i he said "You know that's Malfoy's seat?"

"Yes, I can sit here today because he's not coming." Ginny stated as she unpacked her bag. She waited till just before the teacher arrived to make her move from her usual seat.

"What do you mean, he's not coming?" Harry asked surprised.

"You didn't hear?" Ginny stated in a fake surprised tone. "Well I heard from a 7th year girl who heard it from this 5th year, that they saw Malfoy going into the hospital wing." She explained.

"So you heard it through girl gossip." Harry stated. He wondered what had happened. Malfoy was just supposed to clean up. "Did she see any reason why he might need to go?"

"She did hear that he had some red stuff on him." Ginny answered. At his worried expression she added on "It didn't look like blood though."

"He must have fallen in the potion." Harry said out loud to himself.

"What?" Ginny asked for further explanation.

Kingsley started speaking so he wasn't able to answer her.

…

Snape sighed in frustration. "Draco, stop pacing and sit down!" They'd only been waiting for a couple minutes for the nurse but the boy was driving him crazy. At first he was just a little twitchy but now he wouldn't stop walking back and forth.

"I can't, I feel like I have to keep moving." Draco responded as he continued to move.

Looking down at his watch Snape swore. "Dam, I have to go. I should've already started my next class." He stood to leave. He didn't want the students thinking there wouldn't be any class. "I'll be back to check on you later" he called back before disappearing through the door.

Madame Pomfrey finally approached him looking frustrated from something. "Where did Severus go?" she asked. It took her a really long time to get a clear reading on the auror because he refused to sit still.

"Classes are starting." Draco answered as he continued passing. "Can we get this examination over with so I can go?"

"We'll see." The nurse sighed under her breath. Ever since the boys first year at Hogwarts she always remembered him being one of her most difficult patients. Luckily he wasn't here very often unlike Potter.

Madame Pomfrey took the chair that Snape had vacated and taking out her wand. "If you can just sit down so I can check your levels."

Draco sat down the edge of the bed but his leg kept tapping.

Flicking her wand she checked his energy levels. Looking at the results she wasn't surprised it was more the same as Mr. Garrott's. He was a lot more energetic than usual and it looked like it was only going to get worse. "I think it would be best if you stayed here and didn't go to your afternoon classes so that I can monitor you" she said but really she didn't want to set a hyper boy on the rest of the school.

…

As soon as class ended Harry decided to make his way to the hospital wing. Quickly packing his books away he took the stairs down two at time and head out the class exit. Harry speed walked up the hallway and his friends followed.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked as he took long steps easily keeping up with his friends fast pace.

"Malfoy's in the hospital for some reason. I want to see what happened." Harry answered as he headed down a flight to the right floor. They walked up the hall until they reached the hospital wing.

Pushing the door open he was surprised by what the patients were doing. Malfoy was sprinting from one end of the room to the other and Garrott was performing some auror physical warm ups.

Other students who had been admitted were watching them wide eyed.

Once they all got inside he let the door slip closed behind him. Madam Pomfrey looked up from her desk that she'd been writing at hearing the sound of the door thinking it was a new patient. She sighed when she saw who it was. "Mr. Potter, what can I do for you?" Madame Pomfrey asked walking up to him.

"I'm just here to see Malfoy." Harry admitted to the nurse. He walked further into the room into the path of the running Slytherin.

"Potter" Draco said in surprise after he almost skidded into him.

"When I heard you were in the hospital wing I expected you to be bed ridden, not bouncing off the walls." Harry stated in shock at the blondes out of character behavior. He raised an eye brow when he saw the auror was performing clapping push ups now.

"I just can't seem to sit still." Draco exclaimed as he ran back to the other side of the room, pushing off the wall and running back once more.

Turning his attention back to the nurse Harry asked "What's wrong with them?" gesturing at their inability to sit still.

"Since the potion they got on them is a cure for the Drought of Living Death, which is the strongest sleeping potion, it's supposed to bring your energy level back to normal, but…" Madame Pomfrey explained as she shuffled through her notes. "Since they weren't suffering from the potion in the first place it's causing there energy levels to spike to a worrying level."

"You mean it's causing them to be super hyper." Ron asked blankly.

"Basically, yes." The nurse confirmed his conclusion.

Watching the two running around the hospital wing Harry thought they needed more room. "Maybe I should take them outside so that they can run off their energy." He suggested.

"Yes please, just take them." Madame Pomfrey readily agreed; they could clearly hear the frustration in her voice. It sounded like she needed a break for a little bit.

Harry grabbed the Slytherin's arm the next time he ran near enough to him. "Come on, we're going to go for a walk." He started to drag him towards the door. "You coming Garrott?" He called back.

The auror noticed them leaving and followed.

.

The further away they got from the hospital room the more out of control they seemed to get.

Once they reached outside Malfoy ran at a break neck speed across the school grounds. "Hey get back here!" Harry yelled after the blonde, trying to keep up but failing.

"Malfoy!" Harry called but it didn't gain the boys attention so he used "Draco!" instead which caused the Slytherin to stop suddenly. Harry ran directly into his back and knocked himself to the ground. The blond giggled before running off again with the auror not far behind.

"Did Malfoy just giggle?" Ron asked in shock.

Harry was still lying on the ground. "It's almost like he's drunk and his inhibition's are down."

"It's more like they're both like acting like children who have eaten too much sugar." Hermione said once she reached his position as a comparison for their behavior.

"Great, they're acted like five year olds." Harry said out of breath. "With sugar rushes" He sighed as he picked himself off the ground and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

"I remember those." Ron stated in remembrance to his childhood. "Good times."

"Well there's one thing about sugar rushes." Hermione exclaimed thoughtfully.

"What?" They both asked sharing a confused expression.

"What comes up must come down." Hermione stated. "Malfoy has to crash some time."

"It doesn't look like it's going to be any time soon." Harry said as he watched the Slytherin run around like he was a child again. When Malfoy was back to normal he is going to be so embarrassed by this he thought to himself.

Harry noticed the auror had run off towards the Quidditch field but he wasn't going chase after him. He was a gown man and should be able to take care of himself.

.

They'd been outside for over an hour and Malfoy showed no sign of slowing down. Harry had tried to chase after him again but he stopped when he got a cramp in his side. They found a shaded tree to sit under.

"It's almost dinner time" Hermione pointed out after looking at her watch.

"I'm heading in." Ron said immediately at the mention of food, standing up.

"Wait for us. I'm just going to get Malfoy." Harry asked before standing up and running to catch the blond. He had to physically drag the Slytherin back. When they got back in the school Malfoy was walking further ahead of them.

Ron was dragging his feet. "I don't know how my mother managed to take care of all of us when we were children, it's exhausting." He yawned.

"You do realize he's isn't actual a child." Hermione asked sarcastically and recieved a shrug from her boy friend.

When they reached the hall of changing staircases the Slytherin had already started to ascend and was making his way past the second floor. They tried to run to catch up but the stair had already decided to move. Skidding to a stop they watched the stairs changed and the blonde disappear through an entry way.

Once the stairs had locked back into place they ran up them taking two steps at a time.

"Crap. Where did he go?" Harry asked himself as he looked both ways for any sign of the Slytherin but he didn't see anyone.

"I'm not sure." Hermione responded. "He's got be around here somewhere."

"Why don't we just leave the idiot to his own devices?" Ron stated in annoyance. "I'm not missing dinner for him."

"I'm in charge of his safety right now because Garrott ran off." Harry said. He decided to take the left because he had a good feeling about it.

They turned a corner and stopped in surprise at the sight that met them. Malfoy was on the ground leaning against one of the suits of armor. 'That was easy' Harry thought to himself because he was sure that they'd be looking for a long time.

Harry walked forward and lent down to get a better look. The Slytherin's eyes were closed and his breathing was deep. Using his hand he shoved one of the boy's shoulders to see if he'd get any reaction. The blondes head only lolled to the side. "He's out cold." He shared his observation.

"I told you he had to crash eventually." Hermione stated.

He could feel the coldness of the stone under his hand. "I should get him back to his room." Harry said as he tried to maneuver the blond onto his back. Standing up he made sure he had a good grip before moving back to the stairs.

...TBC


	15. Crash

I know it's only been four days since I've last posted but it felt like a long time to me. I finally got around to finishing writing the next chapter today because the past two days I've felt off but today I slept ten hours so I'm ready to be productive.

I have no idea how these two chapters got so long. Together they come to around 7,000 words. It was just a small idea that I got carried away with. I managed to find a scene that fit perfectly with it that I already wrote that I didn't know where to put it.

This a quote i heard but it was something someone posted on twitter, it made me think of Slytherin. - "I don't fuck with snakes. You don't fuck with something that lives on land and decided legs weren't important."

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Crash_

**…**

Malfoy was surprisingly light so he had no trouble carrying him down a flight of stairs and to the portrait hole.

When approaching the entrance Ron groaned once he realized something. " Great. How are we going to get in? Malfoy's unconscious and Garrott's who knows where right now."

"I know the password." Harry admitted as he shifted the blond to get a better grip on his thighs.

"You know the password." Hermione stated in surprise. Using a tone that said she wanted an explanation later.

"I think I do at least. Hopefully they didn't change it yet." Harry answered. Looking at the man in the portrait he said "Wingardium Leviosa" he received a nod before it swung open to allow them entrance.

Harry sighed in relief before stepping over the lip into the common room. It was the first time his friend had been here so they examined the room. The fire place was lite but he guessed the house elves made sure it never went out.

He put the blond down on the couch. He didn't want to reveal to his friends that he knew where Malfoy's room was.

"I don't think he should be left alone right now." Harry stated as he sat down in an arm chair. He didn't like the idea of leaving Malfoy on his own when he was comatose. If Greyback did decide to attack right now, however unlikely, he'd be a sitting duck. "You should go down to dinner without me."

"You need to eat too." Hermione claimed.

"I'll go down to the kitchens later." Harry replied back.

"What are you going to do while you wait?" She asked inquiringly.

Picking up a book that was left on the coffee table he held it up for her to see. "I'll study for potions."

"Let's just go Hermione, I'm hungry." Ron complained.

"Fine" She agreed and they left for dinner together.

Harry was finally left alone with the blond. The only sound in the room was the Slytherin's light breathing and the crackling fire.

He tried to read but he hadn't even gotten through a whole page because his eyes kept straying to the sleeping blond. This is the first time he'd ever seen Malfoy in such an unsuspecting position. It's true that everyone looks different when they were sleeping.

Getting up he put the test book on the chair and walked closer to the blond. He debated moving him to his bed to sleep but thought better of that. If the auror came back, he didn't think the man would like it if he'd been in Malfoy's room.

It didn't seem right though to leave him just like this on the couch though. He transfigured one of the extra pillows into a blanket and draped it over the other boy.

Sitting back down he was able to concentrate better now. 'If only the subject wasn't so boring' he thought to himself.

…

After his classes were over for the day Snape wanted to go directly to the hospital wing to check in on his god son but he had a lot of student work to mark. He decided that he'd do that first before heading up so he could spend time with him without having to run off to do something.

It took longer than he thought it would but at least it was out of the way. By the time he ended up heading up it was pushing dinner time already.

When he opened the door to the hospital wing he was surprised he didn't see anyone running around. He could see the nurse tending to a crying first year but other than that it was quiet. One of the hangings on the bed was closed so he pushed it open to only see an empty bed.

Turning to the nurse he asked "Where's Draco?" He came to the hospital wing still expecting his godson to be here. The potion shouldn't have worn off yet; at least not for the auror and the boy couldn't go anywhere without him.

Madame Pomfrey turned her attention to him. "Oh, they were causing so much noise and disturbing the other patients, so when Mr. Potter came and offered to take them off my hands I readily accepted." She shrugged.

"You just let him take them?" He asked with a raised eye brow.

"Well since I can't do anything else for them I didn't see why not." Madame Pomfrey replied huffily.

Snape turned on his heel and left the hospital wing without further comment. He stalked down to the great hall where dinner had just started. Scanning the room for a head of messy black hair but he didn't see it. Where could that boy have gone? He asked himself.

He spotted the unmistakable short red hair at the Gryffindor table. Walking over to stand behind the boy's friends who were eating he asked "Where did Potter take my god son?" The Weasley started to choke in surprise and Granger patted him on the back. When other students noticed his presence they shifted away from him.

Hermione turned around to look at her teacher. "Harry took him back to his chambers" she answered.

"Why would he need to do that? Wouldn't it be better to be in an open area?" Snape asked. He didn't think sticking a hyper boy in a small enclosed area was a good idea.

"Malfoy used all his energy so when the potion finally wore off he was knocked unconscious" she answered while still patting her boyfriend's back who was taking a drink to wash the food down.

"I did not expect the potion to wear off so soon." Snape said to himself in contemplation. "Why did Potter not come down with you to dinner?" He asked inquiring since the auror should've been there to look after the boy.

"He's actually waiting for Garrott to show up, he kind of ran off when we were outside." Hermione admitted sheepishly.

Snape frowned at hearing that. The auror was not doing his job properly of protecting the boy. "I best go relieve Potter of his duty then" he said before leaving.

He walked to the second floor and said the password that his god son had told him "Slytherin Prince" to gain entrance. When he stepped in he saw two sleeping boys. His god son was on the couch with a blanket on him while Potter was in the chair. He must've fallen asleep waiting.

The boy's head was lolled to the side like he drifted off without meaning to. He had an open potion text book lying open in his lap which must've been what made him fall asleep. His glasses were perched on the end of his nose like they were on the verge of falling off.

Snape slammed the portrait closed which had the desired effect of making the boy jump awake. His god son was still dead asleep though. He must be really knackered out because usually he was a light sleeper.

When Harry jumped away he knocked his glasses off. All he could see was a black blob so he felt around with his hand until he felt coolness against his fingertips. He pushed his glasses back to the right position so he could see again.

"Snape" he said in surprise. He stood up and the book fell to the ground with a loud thump.

"Potter" The potion teacher responded back crossing his arms.

Harry shuffled his feet feeling like he'd done something wrong under the man's stare. "I just didn't think it was a good idea to leave him alone here. Garrott…" Harry awkwardly mumbled out.

"Yes, I know the auror is missing in action. I'm just here to relieve you from watch duty." Snape sat down in the chair that he had vacated. Potter looked at him confused and continued to stand in the room. "Potter, you may go now." Snape dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

He nodded and left after shooting Malfoy one last look. There should still be enough time for him to grab some dinner.

…

It was late in the evening by the time the auror showed up again.

Garrott sighed in relief once he got back to the portrait. He wasn't sure what happened during the past couple hours. It was all a blur to him. The last thing he remembered he was in the hospital room. When he came to he was on the other side of the black lake with no idea how he got there.

Saying the password the boy thought up the portrait swung open. When he entered the room he was surprised to see the potion master reading a book and drinking a glass of scotch in his common room. He could see his charge was asleep on the couch beside him.

"Mr. Garrott, where have you been?" Snape asked before taking another sip of his drink and snapping the text closed. "You are supposed to stay with my god son at all times are you not?"

"It's not my fault. I was under the influence of that potion he made blow up." Garrott responded defensively.

"I don't want to hear excuses. No matter what, you should always be thinking of your duty because…" Snape stood and drank the rest of his drink like it was a shot. He walked over and hit the man in the stomach with the potion book. Winding the auror and making him grab it in surprise "If my god son gets injured on your watch I will not be happy."

Garrott looked at the man in surprise as he looked intently in his eyes.

"You don't want to know what I'll do to you" Snape said before stalking out.

Garrott huffed in annoyance once the man left. Just realizing he was still holding the potion book he dropped it.

.

Pacing in front of the fire he looked at his charge jealously as he slept soundly. Even though he could feel that the potions effect had started to wear off he still felt like he couldn't sleep. It was fast approaching the mid night hour and he could feel his tiredness but there was something blocking him from actually acting on it. 'This is what people with insomnia must feel like' he thought to himself.

He walked over to stand above the boy with a contemplating expression. Garrott wasn't sure how such a good looking boy could have such a harsh personality. He pushed some hair aside that had fallen into the boy's face.

When he heard his assignment he thought it was going to be no trouble until he actually met his charge. The boy came from a high class family and always got what he wanted growing up. This caused him to fight him on a lot of things.

Garrott felt like he was worth the trouble though.

As soon as he first met the boy had the train platform he'd felt a pull towards him. When anyone else tried to get near him he felt this unexplainable jealousy take over him. He was trusted with Draco's safety. There was just this feeling that the boy belonged to him and him alone.

Potter was always trying to but in. He wasn't sure what his intentions were towards the boy but he didn't like him always hanging around.

Picking up the boy he carried him to his bedroom and tucked him into his bed. The blond didn't even stir.

…

When Draco woke up in the next morning in his bed to an alarm clock, without remembering how he got there he knew that wasn't a good thing. On a normal day he never got woken up by the alarm because he was already awake and he just used it as a precaution. He had a hard time remembering what happened the day before.

Getting out of bed he got up reluctantly to get dressed. Looking in the mirror he was surprised to see his hair in such a state. If he wanted to eat he wouldn't have time to shower. He usually never got bed head so it was a rare occurrence. 'I look like Potter' he thought. Using a comb and some gel he tried to tame his hair into submission.

Looking in the mirror at the result it looked like he went back in time he thought. If he wanted anything to eat before classes he wouldn't have any time to fix it so it would just have to do.

When he exited his room he was greeted by his auror who was already sitting in the common area. There were black circles under the man's eyes and he didn't look happy. "Did you sleep at all?" He asked blurry eyed.

"No I did not" Garrott answered back leaning into the chair more and crossing his arms. The whole night he sat and watched the clock tick away. He even tried lying down on the couch and will himself to fall asleep but it never happened.

"I'm going to breakfast" Draco informed him before turning to leave. The auror had to drag himself out of his chair to follow his charge.

Even though the day before was foggy Draco was pretty sure he never made it to dinner the night before. The only way he could've gotten off not eating was if he was already unconscious. Even though he'd slept for hours last night he still felt exhausted himself.

Sitting down at his usual seat at the Slytherin table, the first thing he thought was 'He needed coffee stat.' Draco didn't even bother putting sugar or cream in his cup and just had it black. Taking a deep sip he thought 'So gross yet good at the same time.' He started to feel like himself again after he had some caffeine in his body.

Next he started to pile his plate full of a lot more food than he would usually have because he was starving from not eating dinner the night before. He noticed Garrott was doing the opposite today and not packing food back like he did every meal. He just put his coffee together and sat there stirring it with an exhausted look on his face. Draco thought it looked like he was closer to banging his head on the table than actually taking a sip of his coffee.

When he saw others leaving for classes he thought he should follow their example. The week always started with double potion class. He slapped Garrott's should to get his attention that he was leaving. The auror sighed as he pushed his cold coffee away as he stood up.

When Draco was exiting the great hall he felt someone put an arm around his shoulder. He could hear his auror grown a small distance away so it couldn't be him. Looking to see who it was he met deep green eyes. "Potter?" Draco asked wondering what he was doing as the boy continued to walk beside him.

"How you feeling this morning?" Harry asked with humor in his tone.

Draco frowned when he heard Weasley laugh at the question and Granger put her hand over her mouth to hold in a giggle. He knew that couldn't be a good reaction. There was a large gap in his memories from the night before and anything could have happened during that time.

He Narrowed his eyes at the lackeys before turning back to the Gryffindor. "Awful, what happened yesterday?" Draco asked trying to hide the worry in his tone.

Potter had a thoughtful expression on his face "let's just say you were like a toddler."

Draco frowned at that description of his behavior. He didn't even want to know what he did. It was best for him to just pretend that day didn't happen. He noticed Potter's eyes focus on his head.

"What's with the gel, are we back to first year?" Harry asked reaching out a hand to touch it only to have the blond slap his hand away. He ducked out from under his arm and speed walked down the short flight of stairs into the dungeon.

Malfoy ignored him when he ran to catch up. When they reached the potion class room there were student's standing around waiting meaning that Snape hadn't arrived yet. The blond leaned against the wall to wait patiently still acting like he wasn't there. "I was just making an observation" Harry tried to placate the blond.

Draco tried to ignore Potter but with his eyes boring into the side of his head it didn't last long. "I'm having a bad hair day ok."

All talking stopped when they saw Snape stomping towards them from the direction of his personal chambers instead of the great hall. Draco knew that wasn't a good thing because his god father got snappy when he hadn't eaten. Didn't mean he wasn't normally it was usually just worse.

Without saying a word Snape unlocked the door and marched into his classroom and up to the board and he started to write. No one said a word because they all sensed that if they broke the silence the potion master would bite their head off.

Sitting down at their usual table Draco got out the text book and opened it up to the index preparing for another fit like last class. He was right because Severus turned around after only writing for a very short amount of time. "I expect this potion to be brewed and handed in at the end of class. I have to go do something and I expect you all to do as you're told while I'm gone." He instructed before marching out of the class room.

"Good" Draco thought. He hoped Severus was going to get something to eat. Even he couldn't stand that attitude for a double potions period. He wondered what caused his god father's bad mood this morning.

.

They weren't left without teacher supervision for long. When Severus returned he was in a better mood but not by much.

They were brewing a complicated potion that required a lot of attention. Draco was stirring when Potter touched his shoulder to gain his attention. He glanced to where he was pointing only to see that his auror had fallen asleep. It had started to gain attention by the rest of the class. Whispering and pointing at their table had begun.

Draco guessed that the potion had finally fully worn off causing him to lose consciousness. After not sleeping the whole night he wasn't surprised by it. Judging from what Potter had told him about the day before the same thing had happened to him.

Snape walked up to their table and cleared his throat. Garrott blinked his eyes open and sat up. "No one falls asleep in my class, even if they are aurors. Out!" Snape instructed snappishly.

"But…" Garrott tried to ask the man to let him stay but he could see he wasn't going to change his mind when he narrowed his eyes. He stood up reluctantly. "I'll be just outside." He whispered into his charges ear.

"I assure you my godson is safe in here with me." Snape stated and he had a thoughtful look. "From now on, he won't require your presence in my class."

"But I'm supposed to monitor him at all times." Garrott grasped the fact to convince the man. He had used that against him the night before.

"There are no windows in this room, only one exit and entrance which you'll be guarding. He'll be safer than ever without you disturbing my class." Snape snapped "Go." He'd have to inform McGonagall that he'd made the request because the auror was disturbing his class.

Garrott frowned before stalking out and slamming the door behind him.

"Everyone get back to work." Snape instructed when he noticed the shocked stares he was receiving from his students. After he retreated back to his desk.

Draco felt relieved to have the auror not looking over his shoulder while he was trying to concentrate on brewing. Potter leaned over and whispered in his ear that "Snape had the auror whipped" which made him smile.

Draco noticed that Ginny was frowning at him from the front row at his proximity to her ex-boyfriend. He leaned closer to test if he was right and her frown deepened. "What's happening between you and the Weslette?" Draco asked nonchalantly.

Harry looked at where the blonde's eyes were directed and Ginny snapped her head away not wanting to get caught starring. "We tried getting back together after the war but it just didn't seem right anymore. I ended it though Ginny still insists that we try." Harry admitted exasperated.

"Oh good I was afraid you had an Oedipus complex or something." Draco said in relief, going back to stirring their potion like he hadn't just insinuated anything.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused. He vaguely remembered hearing the saying mention in History class when they went over the ancient Greek era in muggle grade school.

Draco rolled his eyes at the boy's obliviousness. "Ginerva Wesley is the spitting image of your mother."

Harry paled and said kind of loudly "Oh god you're right." Malfoy shushed him to say that his voice was drawing attention. "How come no one's ever pointed that out to me before?" He whispered, feeling creasy just thinking about it. Remembering thinking about how he liked Ginny's hair because it reminded him of his mother's.

"Glad to be of service." Draco leaned back with a sense of accomplishment. Ever since he saw a picture of a young Lilly Potter in Severus's office fourth year he thought she looked very similar to the Weslette. His inquisitive nature forced him to bug the man about why he had it before revealing that they'd been childhood friends. His godfather had threatened great pain if he ever told anyone he saw the photo before hiding it in his desk. It had greatly grossed him out when two years later when Potter got together with the bint.

Draco smirked at the frown that the Weslette was giving him. 'They would never get back together now' he thought to himself.

**…TBC**

* * *

Perfect reason for Garrott to fall asleep


	16. mark

I haven't managed to post this because I've started school again already. I'm not sure how often I'll get to post new chapters now but since I've written most of the story already it shouldn't be that bad. since it's my last year they give us a three day weekend for homework so hopefully I can fit in a little writing.

Also because my computer crashed during the summer and I wasn't able to find the disk to reinstall I've been using atrial version of Word which has now expired. I searched for an hour today and finally managed to find my Microsoft 7 disk so I have a real version again.

That means no more misspelled Slytherin because I have a fresh dictionary. Though someone mention there was still one hanging around in my story somewhere in the reviews. Can someone be kind enough to point out where it is?

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Mark_

…

Since all classes were over for the day the halls were swimming with students.

Harry was walking with Malfoy down to dinner and the auror was a couple feet behind them. He'd had to avoid a couple of the younger students who looked at him like he was a god or something. He'd always been treated differently ever since he came to Hogwarts but it was never like this.

"How about you come to my room tonight and we can start ingraining the finer points of potions into your mind." Draco suggested as they walked.

"I can't. There's something that I have to do." Harry had to deny the offer. "Don't you have to wait until Snape talks to McGonagall anyway?"

"No need. She signed it already." Draco stated as he pulled a form out of his pocket for the Gryffindor to see. Potter raised an eyebrow at him. "Just to let you know, I haven't been carrying this around all day. McGonagall just gave it to me."

"I wasn't going to say anything, though it doesn't change the fact that I can't do that tonight." Harry shrugged.

"You practically beg me to be your tutor but when I suggest we put it into practice you blow me off. What do you have to do?" Draco asked indignantly like what could be more important than learning potions.

"I promised Ginny that I'd finally sit down and settle our relationship." Harry admitted, not looking forward to that evening. "I've already blown her off once so I can't do it again."

Draco felt a pit form in his stomach. He thought their relationship was finally over. If Potter had a girlfriend again he'd spend a lot less time with him. "You aren't getting back together are you?"

"No" Harry shook his head adamantly. "I just don't feel that way about her anymore. She feels more like a sister."

"Then what's the problem?" Draco asked confused. They weren't dating or getting back together again so it was just a conversation with his ex-girlfriend. What was so scary about that?

"I haven't officially broken up with her yet." Harry admitted sheepishly.

"How could you have not broken up with her? It's been months since the end of the war." Draco said incredulously. "And didn't you two live in the same house over the summer?" He asked remembering Potter mention once that the Weasley family had moved into his house.

"Yes, but I've just been putting it off. Whenever she'd bring it up I'd just say I'm not ready, but now I'm pretty sure I never want to get back together." Harry sighed in exasperation. "The thing is I've strung her along for so long now I'm afraid to tell her, so every time I catch sight of her outside of class I high tail it the other direction."

"I think…oomph" Draco's foot caught on something and he lost his balance. Suddenly he was falling and the stone floor was getting closer fast. He felt arms catch him and he was held against someone's chest. Pushing out of the persons hold he looked up expecting to see Garrott, since you know it was his job to protect him, but instead he met Potter's face instead.

He heard laughing. Looking up at the culprit he glared when he saw Goyle with some seventh year Slytherins. Apparently when his body guard had heard his voice approaching from a different hallway he'd taken the chance to stick his foot out and trip him.

"Oops" Goyle said completely not serious about it. He laughed and his minion followed his example. When they walked off you could still hear them cackling to each other.

"What a bastard" Harry growled.

"Hey, I used to do exactly the same thing." For some reason Draco felt like Potter was insulting him indirectly. "I've grown past that point in my life though."

Harry remembered perfectly fine what a little terror Malfoy used to be.

Draco hadn't been to the Slytherin common room this semester but he suspected what was going on down there. Goyle was trying to take his place as the ruler of Slytherin. He was succeeding too. He wasn't delusional that he still had any true power in his house anymore though.

He wasn't the Slytherin Prince any more.

Draco didn't want to think about it though. He would just have to use Potter's problems to take his mind off of his own. "Back to what I was saying before… I think you run away every time you see her because you don't want to hurt her feelings." Draco stated his opinion. "You're too much of a Gryffindor."

"What are you my therapist? From one emotionally unstable person to another." Harry replied sarcastically back to the Slytherin's comment.

"My emotions are fine" Draco replied to his reference but at Potter's blank stare he crumbled. "Fine, I'm as emotionally screwed up as you are." Being raised in such a strict family and actually taught to hide your emotions from a young age was hard on a person. During the war it more than likely saved his life though.

"I'm supposed to meet her after dinner in the common room." Harry said as they reached the landing overlooking the entrance hall.

"If you're missing tomorrow I'll know who the culprit is." Draco stated when he caught sight of the Weslette who sent a glare in Potter's direction before entering the Great hall.

…

When Harry entered Gryffindor tower after dinner Ginny was already waiting for him. She was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed. "Let's talk in my room." She suggested standing up and walking towards the stairs.

He followed her to the senior girl's room. Since not as many girls returned this year the 7th and 8th years were sharing a room.

Harry sat on Hermione's bed and waited for the red head to talk. She sat on her own bed that was directly opposite and made eye contact with him.

There was a long moment of silence.

"So...?" Harry said nervously just to get the conversation started.

"I'm just going to come right out and say it. This is a question I've been wondering since the beginning of term." Ginny exclaimed.

"What?" Harry asked, though he was pretty sure he knew what the question was. It was probably 'Are we still a couple?'

The red head shifted nervously before blurting it out. "Are you and Malfoy going out? It would make so much sense if you were." Ginny asked completely 'd been watching him a lot lately and his eyes always followed Malfoy when he entered the room.

Harry could feel his heart stop at what she was implying. "We're just friends. I'm not gay just because I don't want to go out with you."

"Well you weren't that interested about going past kissing" Ginny said as evidence. With all her other boyfriends they were very interested about getting to second and even third base but with Harry she felt none of that desire for her. It was more like he was using her for a front.

"I wasn't ready for sex yet." Harry snapped.

"Harry you're a teenager, you should be dying to get into your girlfriends pants." Ginny replied back as evidence. When she'd offered to have sex with him and he turned her down she suspected something was off.

Suddenly the door was slammed open and Hermione and Ron entered locked in a tight embrace attached at the mouth. You could hear the noise of the smacking of their lips and saliva being exchanged.

"Hey!" Ginny yelled indignantly.

Hermione immediately pushed her boy boyfriend away at the sound of one of her roommates yelling. Ron tried to lean in to continue kissing but she grabbed his chin and directed it so that he could see for himself they had company.

Ron turned an interesting shade of red. being caught in a moment of passion by your sister and your best friend was not the most pleasant feeling.

"I'm sorry. Usually there isn't anyone in here right after dinner" Hermione apologized sincerely.

"Are you guys done with the room because..." Ron had the audacity to ask.

"You are not having sex in the room I sleep in." Ginny decreed gripping her hair like she was going to rip it out.

"It's a little too late for that" Ron mumbled under his breath. Hermione smacked him on the back of the head and blushed profusely. The red head just shrugged at his girl friend as if silently communicating "What, it's true?"

Ginny glared and threw a pillow at her brother's head. "How am I ever going to sleep in this room again now that I know you've been doing that in here?" She couldn't stop her imagination from making up images to go along with the thought.

Harry was saved by Ron's stupidity. It seemed Ginny had completely forgotten about their conversation in light of fighting with her brother.

"Get a different room. I don't want you to ever use what is currently my bedroom for your nefarious activities." Ginny yelled. "This room is off limits."

"Fine, we'll find somewhere else!" Ron snapped in irritation as he dragged Hermione out behind him and slammed the door. They were most likely going to end up in the astronomy tower.

Once they were left alone again Ginny turned her attention back to him. "See, that's how you should feel about your girlfriend; unable to keep your hands off her." She point towards the door her brother had just made a dramatic exit out of."The only explanation is that you're gay." Ginny rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

He thought too soon. "I feel like this is more about your ego. Like you don't think I should be able to keep my hands off of you." Harry huffed in frustration.

"You shouldn't. I'm gorgeous." Ginny said as she flipped her long fiery red hair over her shoulder. "Any boy should lucky to have me. I've had many offers already this year; I just haven't taken any of them up on it because I want to make sure we are done. Are we?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yes, we are done for good." Harry confirmed.

"Good I just wanted you to say it." Ginny said calmly like she'd known this was coming for months. "Seriously though, are you interested in Malfoy that way? He's good enough looking I guess but his personality could use some work." She rambled.

"Whatever Ginny" Harry said as he stood up to leave. Not wanting to sit there and listen to the girl speculate his imaginary romance with the Slytherin. He stopped at the door and turned around to address her "Still friends though?" He asked nervously.

Ginny rolled her eyes "Of course" He gave the red head a blinding smile before leaving.

…

After potions they were walking through the cold stone dungeons on their way to the next class.

They picked Garrott up after who had to wait outside for the whole class. He didn't seem happy about it at all.

"You have to convince Snape to allow me to monitor his classes again." Garrott demanded his charge.

"I don't think that's going to happen. Once Severus decides something it's usually set in stone." Draco shook his head.

"I've been entrusted with your safety. How can I do that properly if I have restrictions like this put on me?" Garrott complained.

"Sorry but no can do." Draco said because really he just didn't want the auror to be allowed to attend his potions class again. With the auror not looking over his shoulder as he tried to concentrate everything went much smoother and he felt less tense.

As soon as they'd got back to their quarters the night before Garrott had gone straight to bed. Draco had been left alone to do homework. It was nice having some alone time.

"I can do a better job protecting Malfoy." Harry claimed with confidence. "You haven't even fought in a real battle."

Draco rolled his eyes as they fell into their usual fights. Potter really liked to hold the fact that he wasn't present at the final battle over Garrott. He continued to walk with them following bickering behind him.

"I'm serious. You don't have enough experience. Greyback's a werewolf, and not one like my friend Lupin who took wolfs bane ever full moon to suppress the wolf." Potter and Garrott stopped walking to glare at each other. Their argument had taken a more serious turn.

"Have you ever seen a werewolf transform, because I have. The way there bones break and elongate as they grow fur over there body and sharp teeth that could rip anything to shreds."

Draco felt a chill go down his spine the more the boy said. "Potter shut up." Draco snapped over his shoulder as he speed walked away. The way he described them it was freak in him out.

It made him remember the one time Greyback had cornered him at the manor last year close to the full moon. He was lucky that Voldemort chose that time to use the drawing room. It was the only time he was every grateful for the dark lord's presence.

The Slytherin had managed to get out of the dungeon and was striding across the entrance hall away from the great hall. He had to jog to catch up with him. Harry grabbed Malfoy's arm to stop him from walking away. "Where are you going?"

"I just have to drop my bag off at my room. You should go to lunch though; your friends are waiting for you." Draco indicated with his head in the direction where Weasley and Granger were waiting for him.

Before Harry could say anything the blond had already dashed up the stairs.

…

Draco was walking through the entrance hall on his way to lunch after dropping off his potion text when he felt a tingling feeling. He ignored it because it was so subtle you could mistake it for the feeling you get when someone's starring at you without your knowledge.

Stepping through the doors but he stopped in surprise. People were pointing at him and whispering; which wasn't unusual but it had dropped off lately. What could he have done to start it again? He only looked down when someone yelled "Death eater." He blanched when he saw that someone had transfigured the sleeves of his robe short; showing his dark mark.

Turning around to dash out of the great hall he was met with a laughing Goyle.

His hands made fists at his sides in anger. If he only had a wand, his old body guard would be in pain. Glaring as he walked around the laughing lug on his way to the stairs.

Garrott followed his charge.

.

Harry frowned at every ones' reactions. The laughing and the jeering were completely uncalled for. It wasn't common knowledge if Malfoy had the dark mark or not, though it was always a possibility that he did.

Without thinking he dashed after the blond, getting weird looks from some people. When he reached the portrait of the charms master on the second floor he spoke the password and nothing happened. 'Dam, they must've finally changed the password.' Harry thought to himself. He debated knocking when he heard raised voices on the other side of the door which took the question out of it.

…

Draco went to slam the portrait behind him to take his anger out on something but only managed to catch his auror in the door.

"You're supposed to be protecting me, making sure no one can attack me, but you let someone perform a spell on me." Draco snapped at the auror.

"It was only a harmless prank. No harm done." Garrott tried to placate the boy. He knew he hadn't done a very good job.

"But what if it hadn't been harmless? How can I trust you to protect me against Greyback, if you can't protect me against mere school children?" Draco yelled.

"You're over reacting." Garrott rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Maybe Potter's right, you don't have enough experience. I might just have to request another auror to take your place." Draco expressed his feelings.

Garrott grabbed the boy's wrists and dragged the willowy boy towards him. "Are you threatening me?" He asked while glaring into the grey eyes. He couldn't fail at this. If he was removed from this mission it would mean that he'd failed and would have to reapply to become an auror, which would take months and set him way back.

They both stopped when they were disturbed by a knock at the door.

"Malfoy, you ok in there?" Potter's voice could be heard muffled through the portrait.

Draco sighed in relief when he was released. Rubbing his wrists he went to answer the door. He never felt so relieved to see scar-heads face before.

Harry could see how agitated the blond was. He wasn't sure if it was from the scene in the great hall or the argument he'd just over heard. "Do you think I could come in?"

Draco was so happy that the other boy had suggested it instead of him having to ask, because he didn't want to be alone with his auror right now. "Sure." Opening the portrait wider to leave enough room for the other to enter.

Harry stepped in and looked for the aurors position. He was by the mantle taking calming breathes as if to cool down. It looked like it was a really good thing he'd followed so he could interrupt before things escalated. He knew how easy it was for Malfoy to annoy someone to the point they wanted to punch him in the face.

Malfoy grabbed his wrist lightly and started to lead him to what he knew was the boy's bedroom. He could see the auror send a glare in their direction as they disappeared into the room.

Garrott glared at the door when his charge slammed it behind him.

.

Draco sighed in relief to be in his safe room once again. He flopped onto the bed on his back and tried to calm down. Starting to list ingredients for the polyjuice potion in his head to sooth him.

Harry looked at the Slytherin worriedly. He looked much more disheveled than he usually did with his precariously transfigured short sleeves and his hair looked messed up like he'd only seen it after a scuffle.

Draco felt the mattress give way beside him as the other boy joined him on the bed. He didn't think that they had a close enough relationship for that action but at the moment he didn't care.

The silence was broken by Potter's voice. "Are you ok?"

Draco breathed heavily through his nose once. "I guess." He sighed. "It was too much to hope that everyone would forget I had the dam thing."

"It's just like a muggle tattoo now. It's not even active anymore." Harry said to comfort the blond.

"It's a symbol, proof that I was once Lord Voldemort's property." Draco said upset.

The way that Malfoy referred to himself as an object that had once been owned unsettled him. "My scars just a symbol too. I consider it proof of everything I had to go through, and I'm still here. You should too."

Draco thought about all the hard times since he got the mark on his arm. All the times he could've given up and perished but pushed through. "Wow, you actually made me feel better."

Harry smiled at the snarky response to his heart felt words. "It's what I'm here for." He put his arms behind his head to preen in accomplishment.

They both jumped when a knock came at the door.

"You have charms in ten minutes." Garrott's voice could be heard through the door.

"Fuck." Malfoy exclaimed. Climbing off the bed he made his way towards the door.

Harry propped himself up on his elbows and observed the Sytherines appearance. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" Draco's hand fell off the door knob he was just about to turn. Turning around to look at the Gryffindor questionably. The boy gestured to his body. Looking down he realized he was still wearing the transfigured robe. "Fuck." He pulled the robe off and threw it on the floor.

Shooting a look at the clock on his dresser." We have to go." Malfoy pointed out before walking towards the door and opening it up.

Harry followed behind the Slytherin. He watched Malfoy grab his bag before leaving through the portrait. Making him realize he'd forgotten his bag at the Gryffindor table. Well hopefully Hermione grabbed it for him. The auror glared at him before following his charge out the portrait so Harry shot a glare back.

Harry fell in step with the Slytherin as they made the short trip down the hall to charms classroom.

The class started to whisper as they entered together. He wasn't sure if it was because of what happened at lunch or if it was the fact that they actually came to class together instead of just meeting here.

Harry followed Malfoy to his usual seat in the back. Hermione held his bag out from her aisle seat for him to retrieve it. "Thanks." He whispered to her as he passed by.

"Everyone!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed to gain the classes attention. "Today we will be going over memory charms. You'll need this charm if you wish to go into becoming an Obliviator for the ministry." Many students rolled their eyes thinking about how they weren't pathetic enough to fall into that job. It was for losers.

"I'm sure most of you already know the incantation for this spell but have never actually cast it. Who would like to remind us?" Flitwick addressed the class. Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes Miss Granger." The professor pointed at the girl.

"Obliviate." Hermione answered after putting her hand down. She'd only ever performed the charm once on Dolohov but she'd never forget the experience.

"If performed properly the charm will remove a certain memory, what will happen if performed improperly?" Flitwick asked and both Harry and Ron's hands shot into the air, remembering Professor Lockhart.

"Mr. Weasley." Flitwick smiled at the redhead that usually wasn't very active in his class.

"It can erase a large part of a person's memory and cause brain damage." Ron answered.

"Very good, 10 points to Gryffindor. There is only one way to break a memory charm placed on a person. What is it?" Flitwick asked ominously.

A lot of people looked confused. They never heard of a way to break the charm, that's why there was a ward in St. Mongos dedicated to the spell damage it made when it went wrong. Even Hermione was a little thrown off. Harry saw Draco's hand go up out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy." Flitwick acknowledged the Slytherin.

"The reason why no one has heard of a cure for the charm is because it is not for the faint of heart. It will never be used by the healers at St. Mongos. The only cure is torture." Everyone one looked wide eyed at the blond as he revealed the answer. "Though once you've been cured your body and mind has been damaged beyond repair." Draco answered remembering watching the Cruciatus curse being performed on someone to get information in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor.

"That's a very thorough answer Mr. Malfoy, 20 points to Slytherin." Flitwick squeaked. "Since we can't be going around casting the spell on other classmates, this is going to have to be a practical lesson. Get out your text books and turn to page 68. There will be an essay due next class on the spell." Flitwick informed the class. Many grumbles could be heard. Ron's being one of the loudest. Draco was probably the only one happy about it other than Granger.

…**TBC**


	17. Dream

Sorry I haven't posted in like a month but my school schedule makes weeks just fly by. I can't believe I've been back to school for 5 weeks already. Seriously with all the homework I'm getting I feel guilty anytime I sit down to write because I should be doing something else.

I've just been trying to fix some of the loop holes and merge two separate scenes together which is what took me so long with this one. hopefully it won't be as long till the next chapter.

* * *

**Golden Protector**

_Dream_

**...**

Harry starred at the ceiling of his bed deep in thought. He could hear the deep breathing and snoring of his roommates as they slept.

He'd stayed up half the night after he'd woken up from a dream about Malfoy. In it he was kissing the blond and when it looked like they were going to go further Garrott walked in. Even in his dreams the auror always had to ruin it.

The thought that he'd just had a sex dream about the Slytherin kept him up.

In the dream he didn't go that far with Malfoy since he didn't know how gay sex worked but thinking about passionately kissing the blond was not a dream he was used to having.

It was all Ginny's fault. He'd never even contemplated before that he might like the other sex but now it was in the forefront of his mind and it was connected to Malfoy too.

The dream didn't mean that anything was ever going to happen between them though. They were just friends.

It was just hormones he thought to comfort himself. They had just latched on to anything that was semi attractive. Even before he'd become friends with Draco he had to admit if only to himself, that Malfoy had grown from a pointy face git to be a very attractive git over the years.

He'd had sex dreams about other classmates before. It was impossible not to when you stick a couple dozen hormonal teenagers in one place over a long period of time.

Harry had managed to not become awkward around the other participant in those dreams so hopefully now wouldn't be any different. Though one of them was about Luna and he started to laugh any time he thought about how impossible it would actually be.

It had never been a boy before though, and it had never been Malfoy.

Luckily the first class of the day was Wizard Culture which the Slytherin didn't take so he had time to compose himself before he had to face Malfoy.

**...**

Draco sighed as he walked back to his chamber's after a long day of school.

All afternoon any time he tried to talk to Potter he'd stutter or blush. He couldn't understand what that was all about. He'd noticed the Gryffindor had started to act a little different after his talk with the Weslette but not to this extent.

He skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs when he noticed a large group of female students crowding around something. The thing was it was right in front of his rooms too.

"What's going on?" Draco asked the auror.

"I'm not sure." Garrott shrugged in response.

Draco frowned, he was really tired and just wanted to relax for a bit before dinner. Pushing ahead he tried to make his way through the crowd. He realized they were all female students as he got closer. They were cooing at something and giggling.

He had no idea what though.

When he finally managed to get close enough to see his portrait Draco almost had a heart attack when he saw a woman who looked exactly like his aunt Bellatrix. He realized that couldn't be her though because she was dead.

The women was leaning on the entrance to his quarters like she was waiting for someone. Since only two people resided there it could only be one of them. She had exactly the same consistency of thick dark hair and similar facial features. In her arms he noticed she held a small baby that was the cause for all the female attention.

"Can I hold him?" One of the nameless females asked but the women just ignored them.

Draco came to a stop be the women's side.

She looked him up and down when she noticed his presence. "You must be Draco. You have your father's colouring." The women said as if she was unimpressed by this fact.

"Excuse me, who are you." Draco asked suspiciously, if she knew his father he wasn't sure if he should trust her.

"Andromeda Tonk's" The witch held out her hand that wasn't holding a child for him to take. At his confused expression she added "Maiden name Black" for only a split second his facial expression changed and she could see when her identity finally registered with the boy. "I've been talking with your mother again and she insisted I come down here and meet you."

"You're my aunt?" Draco said in an unsure tone. When the only relatives you've met were crazy you tend to be cautious when meeting a new one.

Draco looked at the child the women had. He was pretty sure it wasn't hers because she was far too old to have a baby. "Who's this?" He asked, at the sound of his voice the baby turned his eyes on him. Draco's eyes widened when the child's hair turned from non-descript brown to his own white blond.

Before the women could answer him a very familiar voice yelled "Teddy!" Potter came barreling through the crowd and straight to the child, taking him into his arms and rocking him. "Aren't you getting big fast."

"Harry, how'd you know we were here?" the women asked Potter.

"I heard other students talking about seeing a women of your description with a child and I just had to come to see myself." Harry answered enthusiastically.

Draco huffed and crossed his arms. "I see you know them." He stated to Potter who was ignoring him for the child. Thinking to himself 'And he thought the girls were bad'.

As if just noticing the strained atmosphere Potter stopped and looked at him. "I forgot you've never met before" he stated as he looked between the two relations.

"Perhaps we should go inside" Andromeda suggested, shooting looks at the crowd surrounding them.

Draco had to agree that he'd rather not have the first conversation with his aunt in front of a percentage of the Hogwarts female population.

He tried to whisper the password to the portrait but it said "Say it louder my boy, I'm hard of hearing you know." Looking around at all the people surrounding him who refused to leave "Slytherin Prince!" Draco snapped at the portrait.

It allowed him entrance and he stomped in. 'Great, now he's going to have to change the password' Draco thought to himself. Once his guests entered he slammed the portrait closed on the females.

"That's really what you chose to change your password to?" Potter asked him with a raised eyebrow once he took a seat on the couch with the child.

Draco flopped down on the other end of the couch. "What, I think it's a good password"

"Like no one's going to figure out when you use your old nick name." Harry rolled his eyes. "Conceited much" He mumbled under his breath and he received a glare from the blond for it.

Andromeda looked on at their bickering in amusement. "I didn't expect this" she stated.

"What?" Draco asked confused.

"Harry never mentioned that he was friends with you." Andromeda explained while pointing to her nephew.

"It's only a recent development" Harry admitted. He could feel his cheeks heating up and he thought of what Ginny had insinuated.

"I find that hard to believe. You seem very comfortable with each other's company. I didn't know you two where so close." She looked between the two young men.

"Close?" Draco exclaimed at the term used to describe their relationship. It was true that he had been spending a lot of time with Potter lately but could how they act together really be described like that.

Garrott sat between the two boys on the couch deliberately separating them. He received a weird look from the women for his trouble. The stare she was giving him had a suspicious air to it and made him uncomfortable.

It made him feel like he needed to escape from under the weight of it. "I'm just going to be in my office. Call me if you need me." It wasn't like he was leaving his charge alone with Potter. Nothing was going to happen between them while the woman was here; especially with the child present.

Malfoy waved his hand like he was he understood and dismissing the auror all at once. Garrott gave him a disgruntled look before retreating and closing the door to his office. "Unlikely I'm going to need it." Draco claimed once the auror couldn't hear him.

"I'll call a house elf for tea." Harry volunteered. Whenever he thought of house elves Dobby used to immediately come to mind. Now that he was gone, he shared the spot in his mind with Kreacher. The unwilling house elf had become a great help around Grimmauld place lately.

The pop of an elf apparating resonated through the room.

"Kreacher, what are you doing at Hogwarts?" Harry asked surprised to see his house elf suddenly at the school.

"No, master call Kreacher so he came. What can I get for you?" the old elf asked.

He must have summoned him by accident because he was on his mind. Since he was here he might as well use him Harry thought. "I would just like some earl grey tea for 3 people."

Till then the house elf hadn't paid attention to the other occupants of the room. H glanced at the quests and looked away before whipping his head around when he realized who they were.

"Members of the Black family" The elf gushed.

"Hello Kreacher" Andromeda said in greeting. Over the summer she had made many trips to Grimmauld place and she was used to the elf's personality change in the presence of any relation to his mistress.

The crazy elf focused its whole attention on Malfoy and approached him "You're Draco Malfoy, Lady Narcissi Black's son" Kreacher looked at the boy with stars in his eyes. The Black family was shrinking with each year that passed and each member of the family was important to him. He'd never had the pleasure of meeting this boy before though he'd recognize his portrait from the Black family tree anywhere.

"Yes" Malfoy replied confused why that would mean anything to the house elf. Once he'd confirmed his identity he almost kicked the elf in surprise when it lent down to kiss his shoes. He drew his legs up away from it's reach.

"Kreacher, the tea" Harry reminded the elf what he had been asked to fetch by his master. The elf nodded and there was a pop as he apparated back to the kitchen at Grimmauld place.

Draco had dealt with many house elves in his life coming from such a prominent wizarding family but never one like this. He'd never met one that actually seemed to worship its masters.

"I'm sorry, he's a Black family elf and he gets a little overzealous whenever he meets someone who's even slightly related." Harry apologized to the Slytherin. Embarrassed by Kreacher's actions.

"Yeah, he treats us like royalty any time we come to visit." Andromeda added in.

Harry groaned at the reference to royalty referring to Malfoy. Remembering back to when he really used to live up to the Slytherin Prince nickname he held in his earlier years. His leadership of his house mates who used to follow his every command.

Looking at the blond now he did have a royal air about him with the way he held himself like he is above everyone else and his good posture. He was sure that was his father's doing and Malfoy just subconsciously fell into old habits now.

They all jumped when the pop of apparition echoed sooner than they expected.

"Kreacher is back with the tea" The old elf struggled under the weight of the solid silver tea set he'd chosen to use. He stumbled to the coffee table and slid the tray onto the surface.

He must've decided to break out the Black silver Harry thought. It looked like it had been polished recently too. He could see Malfoy's raised eyebrow out of the corner of his eyes.

Kreacher pored only two cups and handed one to Andromeda and the other to Malfoy. Harry rolled his eyes as he was completely ignored by his own house elf.

Draco shifted uncomfortably under the intense stare. Usually once a house elf served you they left to go do other duties but this once just kept standing there.

"Kreacher, it's fine now. I'll call you when we're done." Harry dismissed the elf a little embarrassed by its actions.

There was an awkward silence so Draco decided to ask a question to break it. "How'd you reunite with my mother? She's still under house arrest so I know you didn't just meet on the street by accident."

"You're still allowed to write letters while under house arrest. I received an owl from her not long after you went back to Hogwarts. I assume she had started to miss family and thought of me." Andromeda answered back.

"I'm glad that she has more than just the aurors to keep her company." Draco said sincerely. He took a sip of tea and looked between his two guests "How do you two know each other?" Draco asked curiously. His aunt had already made several references to knowing Potter personally already.

"I'm Teddy's godfather actually." Harry claimed with a smile on his face as he squeezed the child who was sitting beside him affectionately.

"Who are the parents?" Draco asked looking at the boy with curiosity. He'd only ever heard of his aunt in passing before so he knew literally nothing about her except that she'd been disinherited for marrying a muggle.

"It's actually my daughter Nymphadora and Remus Lupin." Andromeda answered.

"Our old Defense teacher!" Malfoy exclaimed in surprise. "He's the one who was a werewolf right?" He asked looking at Harry for confirmation.

Andromeda could see some of the boys limited up bringing shining through. Her sister had explained how her husband had raised the boy to follow the pure blood beliefs; prejudices and all. She assured her though that in recent years he'd started to change for the better and realize that blood wasn't all who a person was.

"Yes he was a werewolf but teddy didn't inherit any of those traits from his father" Andromeda replied in a miffed tone. "Though as you can tell he inherited Nymphadora's Metamorph powers."

"Is that what it's called?" Draco asked rhetorically, shooting a look at the still blond baby. "What exactly does that entail?"

"A Metamorph can change their appearance on command." Andromeda answered holding her tea cup close to her mouth as if she was going to take a sip.

"You mean they can change to look like another person? Like polyjuice potion." Draco asked, fascinated by the thought of what you could do with such a power.

"Not to that extent. It takes many years of practice to have enough finesse for that. Teddy has little control over his powers right now and he can only change the colour of his hair. Mostly he just focuses on someone he likes." Andromeda responded and looked at her nephew pointedly.

At Malfoy's confused expression Harry explained "She means that Teddy likes you."

"Oh!" Draco was unsure how the toddler could after just meeting him.

"Mostly Tonks used her powers to get laughs at the dinner table. I have many fond memories of a pig snout." Harry reminisced.

"She sounds interesting. When can I meet my cousin?" Draco asked. Andromeda and Harry both froze and shot matching looks at each other. He could feel there was a sudden shift in the air.

"Well, I'm sure you heard about your cousin's death" Harry commented; sure that the blond had just forgotten.

"She died?" Draco stated surprised.

"Yeah during the final battle. Both her and Lupin didn't make it." Harry answered.

"I didn't follow any of that. I had other things on my mind." Draco replied subdued. It was sad to think that he would never get to meet his cousin now that the barriers stopping them from doing so before were gone.

"You didn't hear anything?" Andromeda asked surprised. She'd already come to terms with her daughter's death. Once Tonks joined the aurors it had always been a possibility that she wouldn't come back from a mission so she'd been mentally preparing herself for years.

"I was basically a prisoner in my own home during the war and right after I was in Azkaban. By the time I was able to read the prophet, they must have stopped mentioning it." Draco shrugged. He didn't like to think of those times.

The mood had turned very somber. Teddy was the only one that didn't notice and started to giggle as he played with his own toes.

The sound of her grandchild's happiness brought Andromeda back to reality as she smiled at the child. At least her daughter left behind a very precious gift, something to always remind me of her.

"I guess I should call Kreacher since we're done with the tea." Harry suggested placing his cold tea on the table.

"I should be going." Andromeda said as she looked at her watch. "I'm supposed to meet your mother for dinner."

"Can you give her something for me?" Draco asked and his aunt nodded. "Wait here." He commanded as he ran to his bedroom. when he returned he had a letter in his hand. "I was going to send this by owl but if you're seeing her tonight." he held the envelope for the women to take.

Andromeda took the letter from him. Harry walked over and handed Teddy to her. "We should do this again. I'd like to get to know my only nephew better." She left with that final greeting.

Harry shifted uncomfortably on the couch once he was left alone with the blond. It had managed to slip his mind while his godson was here but now he started feeling awkward. Did Malfoy want him to stay or did he want to be left alone.

He was just about to make an excuse to leave when Malfoy suggested "Well since you're already here Potter, we might as well use this opportunity to study for potions." Harry flopped back down on to the couch.

**...**

Andromeda managed to get around the corner before she gave into her curiosity.

Looking at the letter in her hand she was dying to know what it said. She knew it was wrong but before she knew it she'd used magic to open the envelope. Taking the parchment out.

She scanned what her nephew had written thinking only Narcissa would read it.

It was filled with how much he missed his mother and informing her about his budding relationship with Potter. She wasn't sure why the boy refused to use Harry's first name still. Andromeda was glad to see that her nephew wasn't a Minnie Lucius like she'd feared.

…

- They moved to the Slytherin's bedroom so as not to be disturbed by the auror. Malfoy had assigned him a couple chapters to read and take notes from while he worked on finishing his transfiguration essay.

Harry was getting nowhere with his reading because he was distracted. Sitting alone in a bedroom with the blond wasn't helping him get over his dream. He blushed when an image from it came to his mind, he peeked at Malfoy over the top of the potion text he was being forced to read.

After the fifth time Potter had looked at him only to lower his eyes and blush like a school girl with a crush Draco threw his quill down in frustration. "What is it Potter?" he couldn't concentrate with his green eyes burning into the side of his face.

Harry pursed his lips as if to keep the words in but finally he just had to blurt it out. "Ginny accused me of having a relationship with you." it came out like word vomit but strangely he felt loads better after telling the blond.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at him in confusion. "Yeah so, we're friends now" and he turned back to his essay.

"No I don't mean the friend kind of relationship, but in the romantic sense." Harry face heated up with a blush after saying the last part.

Draco froze when what the boy was saying connected in his mind. "Wait, are you saying that Weslette thinks that we have a gay relationship, together?" Draco asked indicating with his finger between them incredulously.

Harry nodded not wanting to say anything more. "She said we bicker like a married couple."

There a long moment of silence as they let the thought sink in.

"Shit just how do I come off as gay?" Harry broke it as he asked himself. "That's just crazy talk."

"You say that when I'm the injured party. Just quarreling with you got me labeled as gay didn't it." Draco crossed his arms and frowned.

"You're already suspicious with that hair gel and eye cream." Harry replied and pointed at the Slytherin's dressing table that had a whole bunch of products on it. He could totally believe that Malfoy was gay just by how much he preened.

"That's called actually caring about my appearance, you should try it some time." Draco snapped. Comparing his appearance to Potters he did notice there was a huge difference between his dress pants and the Gryffindor's jeans.

"Exactly, most guys don't care. They do a pit check to see if they stink before walking out the door and that's about it." Harry replied as proof.

"Well excuse me for being raised to have much better hygiene." Draco huffed.

"I have absolutely no fashion sense and I play sports, nothing about me is feminine, at all. There is nothing about me that screams gay." Harry stated indicating to his ruff appearance.

"You don't have to be feminine to like other men?" Draco huffed. He knew from experience because when he was at Quidditch camp during the summer fourth year the most burly manly guy he'd ever met made a move on him and it totally was unexpected on his account.

Nothing happened and the guy apologized claiming that he thought he got the vibe from him but he must've been mistaken. "Have you ever heard of butch?" Draco asked.

"I thought that was lesbians?" Harry replied back confused.

"Same thing usually happens in a gay relationship. There's usually a dominant and a submissive." Draco shrugged. He only had a limited knowledge of how a relationship between two guys worked.

"So are you saying if we were actually in a relationship, that you'd be the girl?" Harry asked cheekily. Referring to how Malfoy was a lot more slender and feminine than he was.

Draco frowned "Out, get out!" reaching behind him he grabbed one of his feather pillows and threw it at the Gryffindors head. Potter dodged, grabbed his books and ran out the door with a laugh.

He huffed in annoyance when his pillow hit the wall hard enough to explode and feathers went everywhere. With just a flick of his want it was as perfect as ever

...

Instead of being greeted by a house elf when Andromeda arrived at the gate of Malfoy manner, an auror was there to escort her to the drawing room her sister was currently occupying.

She could see a blond women starring into the flames of the mantle. "Cissi" she said to gain her attention with the nick name she had when they were children.

Narcissi turned to her with a smile at hearing her voice. "You're late" she stated.

"I'm sorry but I stopped by Hogwarts on the way to see your son." Andromeda explained as she placed teddy on the couch since he'd fallen asleep on the way over before taking a seat herself.

"You saw Draco. How was he?" Narcissa sat on the edge of her seat and asked with worry clear in her voice.

"He seemed healthy and dare I say happy." Andromeda assured her sister.

"I know that's what he's been telling me in his letters but you can't tell if someone is lying in written words." Narcissa sat back in relief. She'd written her son almost every day because she had nothing better to do and she received a reply for almost everyone.

"That reminds me, he gave me this to give to you." Andromeda reached into her robes and pulled out another letter. Her sister took it from her hands and opened it to scan over. Since she'd already ready it she could tell what part she was at by the expression on her face.

When she was done reading her son's words she was left with a longing. "I wish I could leave this dam mansion and go to see him." She huffed in frustration.

"Is the house arrest finally getting to you?" Andromeda asked. she was surprised she hadn't heard her sister complain the last couple times she was here.

"Yes. It wasn't so bad when Draco was here with me, but since he left for Hogwarts it has become stiff ling." The blond sighed.

"Maybe you can request to be able to leave with an auror escort?" Andromeda suggested.

"Maybe" Narcissi said in contemplation.

…**TBC**


End file.
